HYDERABAD, THURSDAY JULY 16, 2020; PAGES 12 `3

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RNI No. TELENG/2018/76469

Established 1864Published From

HYDERABAD DELHI LUCKNOWBHOPAL RAIPUR CHANDIGARH

BHUBANESWAR RANCHIDEHRADUN VIJAYAWADA

*LATE CITY VOL. 2 ISSUE 276*Air Surcharge Extra if Applicable

Page 11

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IIT-DELHI DEVELOPS WORLD'S CHEAPESTCOVID DIAGNOSTIC KIT FOR RS 399

AIR INDIA TO SEND STAFF ON COMPULSORYLEAVE WITHOUT PAY FOR UP TO 5 YEARS

In a move meant to reduce its number of employees, the board of Air India has allowedthe airline's Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) to recommend that a non-

performing staff member be compulsorily sent on leave without pay for a period of upto five years. Employees will be assessed by a board in the following categories:Suitability, efficiency, competence, quality of performance, health of the employee,instance of non-availability of the employee for duty in the past as a result of ill healthor otherwise and redundancy. Air India CMDRajiv Bansal can now send employees onleave without pay "for six months or for aperiod of two years extendable upto fiveyears," an official order said.

JIO GLASS MIXED REALITY HEADSET WITHWIRELESS AUDIO, 3D VIDEO CALLING ANNOUNCED

Jio Glass, a mixed reality headset, was announced at the annualReliance AGM 2020 on Wednesday. The headset essentially pairs with

your phone to let you conduct classes, make video calls, and hostmeetings in a 3D holographic environment. Jio Platforms' Tesseractsubsidiary has designed the Jio Glass, and it is said to be compatible with25 mixed reality apps already. The mixed reality headset has anergonomic design for comfortable use and acamera up front. It has a slew of sensorsbuilt-in to allow users to engage inimmersive content. The Jio Glass islightweight and weighs only 75 grams.

Claimed to be the world's most affordable diagnostic kit for coronavirus, a low-costtest kit developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in New Delhi was

launched on Wednesday. According to IIT officials, the base price of the the RT-PCRassay developed by IIT Delhi is Rs 399. Even after adding theRNA isolation and laboratory charges, the cost per testwill go upto Rs 650 and will be considerably cheapercompared to currently available kits in the market. Itcan deliver results within three hours. HRD MinisterRamesh Pokhriyal "Nishank" launched the test kitnamed "Corosure" which will now be available for useat authorised testing labs.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday issued a yellow alertwith regard to weather, while warning of heavy rains in parts of Hyderabad and in

some of the neighbouring districts. A 'yellow' alert signifies 'watch' and theauthorities are advised to “be updated” on the situation. The IMD warning said thatat times intense spells in one or two areas of the city willbe witnessed. It has been raining profusely in the citysince Wednesday afternoon in city areas, including JubileeHills, Banjara Hills, Madhapur, Kukatpally, Moosapet,JNTU, Pragati Nagar, Uppal, Nagole, ECIL, Chikkadpallyand Balanagar. Roads were inundated at various placesdue to heavy rains.

IMD ISSUES YELLOW ALERT FOR HYDERABAD

COVID-19 VACCINE IS COMING SOONPNS n LONDON

Mark your calendar today asit could turn out to be awatershed moment in thefight against Covid-19.According to reports, "positivenews" on initial trials of theUniversity of Oxford’s poten-tial Covid-19 vaccine(licensed to AstraZeneca)could be announced onThursday.

Across the globe,researchers are working roundthe clock to find a vaccineagainst SARS-CoV-2 -- thevirus behind the pandemic.More than 155 vaccines arebeing developed against thecoronavirus, of which 23 arein human trials. Vaccines typ-ically require years of researchand testing before it can beadministered in the clinic.Given the urgency of a vac-

cine against Covid-19, expertsestimate that a fast-trackedvaccine development processcould see a successful candi-date in market in about 12-18months.

Amidst all this comes the

heartening news thatOxford's potential vaccine isalready in large-scale PhaseIII human trials to assesswhether it can protect againstCovid-19, though its devel-opers have yet to report

Phase I results, which wouldshow whether it is safe andwhether or not it induces animmune response.

The developers of the vac-cine said this month theywere "encouraged by theimmune response" they hadseen in trials so far and wereexpecting to publish Phase 1data by the end of July. Thedata are expected tobe published byThe Lancet med-ical journal.

A s t r a -Z e n e c a ’ sexperimentalvaccine isprobably theworld’s lead-ing candidateand mostadvanced interms of devel-opment, the World

Health Organization’s chiefscientist said in June. Thecompany has signed agree-ments with governmentsaround the globe tosupply the vaccine,should it be clearedfor use.

n OXFORD PHASE III HUMAN TRIALS YIELD 'ENCOURAGING IMMUNE RESPONSE'

US stocks rally after promising Covidvaccine results from ModernaT

he Wall Street on Wednesday cheered the promising early resultsfrom US-based pharmaceutical major Moderna's experimental

vaccine, mRNA-1273, and solid earnings from Goldman SachsGroup.The three main US stock indexes have recovered most of theirlosses from the coronavirus-led downturn.Earlier, Moderna'sexperimental vaccine, mRNA-1273 which is designed to protectagainst the Covid-19 virus was generally well tolerated and promptedneutralising antibody activity in healthy adults, say researchers.Moderna stocks surged 17.8 per cent to a record high after thenews.mRNA-1273 vaccine is designed to induce neutralisingantibodies directed at a portion of the coronavirus "spike" protein,which the virus uses to bind to and enter human cells.

ZYDUS BEGINSHUMAN TRIALSNEW DELHI: Indian pharmaceutical

company Zydus said on Wednesday it hasstarted human studies for its potential

COVID-19 vaccine, as coronavirusinfections continue to surge in the world’s

third worst-hit nation. ZyCoV-D, itsplasmid DNA vaccine, was found to be

safe, immunogenic and well-tolerated inthe pre-clinical toxicity studies, Zydus said

here In the human trials, Zydus will enrolover 1,000 subjects across multiple clinical

study sites in India.

TN okays use of BCG vaccine for 60-95 aged patientsPNS n CHENNAI

The TamilNadu gov-e r n m e n thas alloweda pilot pro-ject to studyif the bacilleca lmette-g u e r i n(BCG) vaccine will helpreduce the mortality rateamong elderly Covid-19patients, according to saidHealth Minister C.Vijayabaskar, here onWednesday.

The National Institute forResearch in Tuberculosis willstart the pilot programme.

According to him, the BCGvaccine will be administeredon a trial basis to people in the60-95 age group. The pro-gramme was aimed at reduc-ing the Covid-19 mortalityrate among them, he said.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Gandhi Bhavan, the head-quarters of the Congress inTelangana here, is being sani-tised after some party leadersand activists tested positive forCOVID-19.

The party state unit secre-tary, who was among thoseinfected, died two days ago.

In view of the sanitisation,the Gandhi Bhavan wouldremain closed for a few days,Congress sources said onWednesday.

"Its like a government officebeing sanitised when COVID-19positive cases are found and a por-tion of the office remaining closedfor two-three days," they said.

Some leaders of the NSUI(National Students' Union ofIndia), the student wing of theCongress, had tested positivefor the virus earlier.StateCongress secretary NarenderYadav succumbed to the infec-tion on July 13 while undergo-ing treatment.

Virus-hit Gandhi Bhavan closed

GRID program will give a pushto east Hyderabad, says KTRNAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

IT and Industries Minister K TRama Rao has underlined thesignificance of the state govern-ment's 'Growth in dispersion(GRID)' policy, saying it wouldwork to give a push to the ITsector's growth in eastern partsof Hyderabad as well.

He was speaking at theHyderabad GRID develop-ment programme in Uppalon Wednesday.

The IT Minister stated thatthe state government had comeup with the GRID policy fordispersed growth of the IT sec-tor across the city. “The east-

ern side of the city already hascompanies such as Infosys andGenpact, apart from a numberof large, medium and smallscale enterprises. With this

initiative, we will see moreenterprises and investmentscoming towards this part ofHyderabad.

L VENKAT RAM REDDYn HYDERABAD

The Telangana State govern-ment is not inclined to lend cre-dence to the theory that a 'hid-den treasure' lies beneath theG-Block of the old Secretariatcomplex, whose demolitionbegan recently until the HighCourt stayed the process.

Hence, the state governmenthas decided not to seek the helpof either the Archaeological

Survey of India (ASI) or theNational Mineral DevelopmentCorporation (NMDC) toresume excavation works to

detect 'hidden treasure', if any,beneath the G-Block or anyother Block in the old Secretariat.

Official sources said Chief

Minister K Chandrasekhar Raodiscussed the sensitive subjectwith senior officials amid wildspeculations in certain quartersthat the state government, inthe guise of demolition of theold Secretariat complex, was ona hunt of the hidden treasureunder a cloak of questionablesecrecy. Opposition parties tooraised the issue of hidden trea-sure soon after the Secretariatdemolition works commenced.

G-BLOCK OF OLD SECRETARIAT

Telangana Government won’t lendcredence to ‘hidden treasury’ theory

PNS n NEW DELHI

A three-day-old infant born inUttar Pradesh travelled 17hours on ventilator in anambulance to get admitted toNewborn Intensive Care Unit(NICU) in the national capitalfor a cardiac procedure.

Post-surgery, the miraclechild showed immenseimprovement and was dis-charged within 10 days ofneonatal intensive care.

The recent event came tolight when the infant wasreferred to Indraprastha ApolloHospital in Delhi, post devel-oping breathing trouble rightafter birth.

Surgeons said that thesurgery was a high-risk proce-dure owing to the infant's lowbirth weight of around 1.5 kg-- the lowest weighing child to

have ever gone through such acomplex cardiac procedure atthis hospital. In view of need,Apollo arranged for the baby'stravel to Delhi.

"The child travelled for 17hours on a ventilator in anambulance and was successful-ly operated at Apollo Hospital,"the hospital told IANS.

Dr Muthu Jothi, SeniorConsultant, PediatricCardiothoracic Surgery,Interventional Cardiology atIndraprastha Apollo Hospitalssaid that the case was specifi-cally challenging as a lot of time

was lost in getting the babyhere and beginning his treat-ment.

"The surgery was a high-risk procedure owing to theinfant's low birth weight (1.5kgs). This was the lowestweighing child at 1.5 kgs, tohave ever gone through sucha complex cardiac procedureat this hospital.

PNS n WARANGAL

Wanted naxalite and outlawedCPI-Maoists state committeemember Bhaskar escaped withinjuries and some Greyhoundspersonnel were injured in twoseparate encounters that tookplace late on Tuesday andagain on Wednesday.

Bhaskar has been under-ground for nearly 30 years. Hecarries a reward of Rs 25 lakhon his head.

In one of the encounters,which took place in the Mangiforest belt of Thiryani mandalin Komuram Bheem Asifabaddistrict, senior Maoist leaderAdelaide alias Bhaskar sus-

tained grievous injuries andwas carried into the denseforests by armed naxalites,police said.

In the other encounter,which took place in theKarakagudem-Allapalli forests

in Bhadradri KothagudemDistrict, some Greyhoundforces sustained injuries andthe forces operating in theregion shifted the injured per-sonnel to the district hospital.

3-day-old infant travels 17 hrs, survives cardiac surgery

Dreaded ultra escapes, afterMaoists ambush cops

NAMRATA SRIVASTAVAn HYDERABAD

In all, 99.21 % of Telanganastudents who took the CentralBoard of Secondary Education(CBSE) Class X examinationhave passed, going by theresults declared by CBSE onWednesday.

Of the 28,362 studentsfrom Telangana who regis-tered for the CBSE X boardexam, 28,314 appeared and28,090 passed, translating topass percentage of 99.21.While 99.51 per cent of girls

passed, the pass percentagefor boys is 98.97.

TS students shine inCBSE Class X results

Health Secretary,CommissionertransferredPNS n HYDERABAD

In what looks like collateraldamage suffered by babu-dom, the Telangana stategovernment suddenly trans-ferred several IAS officerslate on Wednesday, includingthe key ones handling thefight against Covid-19 pan-demic.

Telangana State HealthSecretary A Santi Kumari andHealth Commissioner YogitaRana are among the adminis-trative casualties.

Y. Sasi Snigdha

Manasvi Chervela Payal Singh

Prasenjeet De

The oppositionparties had stalledthe construction ofthe new Secretariatfor over a year byfiling cases in the HC

Surgeons said that the surgery was a high-riskprocedure owing to the infant's low birthweight of around 1.5 kg -- the lowest weighingchild to have ever gone through such acomplex cardiac procedure at this hospital.

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In one of the encounters,which took place in the Mangiforest belt of Thiryani mandalin Asifabad district, seniorMaoist leader Adelaide aliasBhaskar sustained grievousinjuries and was carried intothe dense forests by armednaxalites, police said.

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MONEY 8TOP CEOS DISCUSS WAYS TO BOOST

INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

ANALYSIS 7BEWARE OF AN

INJURED XI

SPORTS 12ROOT RETURNS FOROLD TRAFFORD TEST

NANI IS PROUD OF HIT GOING TOB'WOOD:DIRECTO

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‘Deal with SaudiAramco not progressed as per timelines’

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COVID-19 situation better inDelhi than Junesays Kejriwal

Skill developmentneed of the hour,Guv tells youth

TS nears 40Kcases, 603patients in ICUPNS n HYDERABAD

Telangana State is now near-ing 40K in Covid-19 case-load. It reported 1,597 freshcoronavirus cases onWednesday, taking the totalto over 39,342. The totalnumber of deaths fromCovid-19 in the state hasmounted to 386.

In all, 11 deaths due thevirus were reported onWednesday. The number ofpatients who have been dis-charged in the last 24 hours is1,159, taking the tally of thosewho have recovered till date to25,999. The number of activecases in the state is 12,958.

HHYYDDEERRAABBAADDWWEEAATTHHEERR

Current Weather ConditionsUpdated July 15, 2020 5:00 PM

AALLMMAANNAACC

TODAY

Month & Paksham:

Ashadha & Krishna Paksha

Panchangam

Tithi : Ekadashi: 11:44 pm

Nakshatram: Kritika: 06:53 pm

Time to Avoid: (Bad time to start

any important work)

Rahukalam: 01:59 pm – 03:36 pm

Yamagandam: 05:54 am – 07:31 am

Varjyam: NIL

Gulika: 09:08 am - 10:45 am

Good Time: (to start any important work)

Amritakalam: 04:16 pm – 06:00 pm

Abhijit Muhurtham: 11:56 am – 12:48 pm

FFoorreeccaasstt:: Heavy rainTemp: 26/22Humidity: 94%Sunrise: 05.50 amSunset: 06.53 pm

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HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020 hyderabad 02

COVID HOSPITALS IN ALL DISTRICTS, SAYS HARISHPNS n SIDDIPET

In tune with Chief Minister KChandrasekhar Rao's orders, a100-bed hospital was inaugu-rated in Siddipet onWednesday. Finance MinisterT Harish Rao inaugurated theCovid-19 hospital.

Speaking in this connec-tion, he said that the ChiefMinister has been monitoringthe situation daily and issuingnecessary instructions toHealth Minister EatalaRajender and officials uponreviewing the situation. Inaddition to 100-bed hospital inSiddipet, a 20-bed ICU hasbeen started in Siddipet. Allbeds in the hospital will haveoxygen cylinder facility. Thepatients who require ventilatorfacility would be providedtreatment here only.

Finance Minister said thatChief Minister KChandrashekar Rao has decid-ed to create 100-bed hospitalsin all the district headquartersin the State to decentralise

treatment for Covid-19patients and for effective tack-ling of the pandemic.

The government has already

appointed 28 doctors and 150nurses and support staff exclu-sively for the isolation block,the Minister said, adding that

people who test positive, butnot having symptoms will beadvised to stay in isolation intheir own homes.

The Minister, however, clar-ified that people who do nothave proper isolation facility athome will be shifted to the 100-bed isolation block where theywould be given proper medica-tion and food until they recov-er. Persons suffering from seri-ous symptoms such as breath-lessness will be shifted toOsmania or Gandhi Hospitalin Hyderabad, the Ministersaid. Therefore, the peopleshould not worry about thequality of treatment in thehospital, the Minister assuredthe people.

Later, the Minister wentaround the isolation ward andinteracted with nurses andenquired about their well-being.

He called upon the people toextend moral support to thedoctors, nurses, sanitation staffand others terming them asCovid-19 warriors.

Finance Minister said that Chief MinisterK Chandrashekar Rao has decided tocreate 100-bed hospitals in all the districtheadquarters in the State to decentralisetreatment for Covid-19 patients and foreffective tackling of the pandemic.

Deadline set for constructionof Rythu Vedikas PNS n HYDERABAD

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumaron Wednesday held a videoconference with the DistrictCollectors on Pattana Pragathiand Rythu Vedika works withspecial focus on newly-mergedvillages in municipalities. Thiswas in the context of posting ofAdditional Collectors (LocalBodies) in 17 districts afterwhich 29 districts now havethese officers.

On the occasion, ChiefSecretary pointed out thatMunicipalities Act providesfor importance to creation ofcritical infrastructure in newlymerged villages. He directedCollectors to personally mon-itor these interventions close-ly. He also directed theCollectors to continue themomentum and focus on san-itation, spraying of disinfectantas well as anti-larval and vec-tor control measures.

As regards Rythu Vedika, hedirected that all remainingsanctions should be expeditedand by 18th of this month allworks should be physicallygrounded. It should be

ensured that Rythu Vedikaworks are allotted to seniorofficers for monitoring. Properplanning should be in place forprocurement of materials sothat there are no bottlenecks inimplementation. All RythuVedika constructions shouldbe completed by 10 October2020, he added.

Chief Secretary also reviewedissues relating to Rythu Bandhu,construction of drying plat-forms, identification of lands forconstruction of godowns andspecial food processing zones.In addition MNREGS works

were also reviewed with empha-sis on convergence with worksof other departments such asirrigation, etc. He asked theCollectors to work in tune withthe priorities of the governmentas per the vision of the ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Arvind Kumar, PrincipalSecretary, MA&UD, JanardhanReddy, Secretary, Agriculture,Sandeep Kumar Sultania,Secretary, PR&RD, LokeshKumar, Commissioner,GHMC, Raghunandan Rao,Commissioner, PR&RD alsoattended the conference.

Reporter, hisbrother attackedPNS n HYDERABAD

A reporter working with avernacular newspaper andhis brother were allegedlyattacked and injured by agroup of persons at Road No10 in Banjara Hills onWednesday.In a complaintto the Police, the victim,Arun Kumar said that he wasgoing along with his brotheron a motorcycle when thegroup stopped them atNandinagar on Banjara HillsRoad No 10.

Four persons, who were ininebriated condition abusedand attacked them. The vic-tim said that they were threat-ened and beaten with a bro-ken liquor bottle.Preliminaryinvestigation revealed thatof the four accused, a personidentified as Akhil, com-mented on Kumar and hisbrother as they were passingby. Taking objection to this,the duo questioned them.Enraged over this, the groupattacked Kumar and hisbrother with a broken whiskybottle, resulting in injuries tothem. Based on Kumar’scomplaint, the police bookeda case and have begun aninvestigation.

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(IN HYDERABAD)

Skill development need of the hour, students toldPNS n HYDERABAD

Governor TamilisaiSoundararajan on Wednesdaysaid that India has the poten-tial to emerge as the largestsupplier of the skilled force tothe world. The Governor, whileaddressing the "KamarajarBirthday, EducationDevelopment Day and WorldYouth Skill Development cele-brations," jointly organised bythe Madurai KamarajUniversity and DesiyaChintana Kazhagam, Chennai,from the Raj Bhavan, hereemphasised that, "The NationalSkill Development Missionlaunched by Prime MinisterShri Narendra Modi is aimedat creating a skilled force ofaround 40 crore people in thecountry. It is time that studentsand youth take advantage ofthe skill improvement schemeslaunched by the Centre to

hone their skills."She pointed out that mere

degrees were not of much useunless one possesses the rightskills for the right job or to bean entrepreneur. Narrating ananecdote during the Americanvisit of Swami Vivekananda,the Governor said that whensome well-dressed shooterswere unable to hit the target,Swami volunteered to hit thetarget with the gun. "Lookingat the saffron-clad monk, theymocked at him saying how amonk would handle the gunand hit the target. The swamitook the gun and hit the targetaccurately to the astonishmentof the people around. Theywere shocked and asked him asto how he could hit the targetperfectly for whichVivekananda replied that thiswas due to his mastery offocus which he attainedthrough the meditation. The

Dhyana helps in concentrationand focus that are essential toreach our goals," she said.

Tamilisai Soundararajanexhorted the students andyouth to concentrate onimproving their skills so as toexcel in their chosen fields.Referring to the great contribu-tion of Bharat Ratna

Kamarajar, the Governor saidthat he was a pioneer in edu-cational reforms by establish-ing numerous schools andlaunching the free meal to thestudents in educational institu-tions. "The karmaveerar's path-breaking initiatives in the irri-gation development, settingup of industries, and corrup-

tion-free transparent adminis-tration, and his simplicity andaustere living were of greatexamples to emulate," sheadded.

"Prime Minister NarendraModi Ji said that had the greatleaders like Lal BahadurShastri, Jaya Prakash Narayan,Ram Manohar Lohia, andKamarajar were alive, theywould have supported him inhis endeavours in developing,and strengthening the country,"Dr. Tamilisai Soundararajansaid. The Governor called uponthe youth to emulate the idealsand humble and simplistic lifeled by Kamarajar in the serviceof the nation. Madurai KamarajUniversity Vice-ChancellorProf M Krishnan, RegistrarDr VS Vasantha, DesiyaChintanai Kazhagam organis-ing secretary Ma Ko ChiRajendran and others werepart of the inaugural session.

Telangana Government won’t lendcredence to ‘hidden treasury’ theory Continued from Page 1

The Chief Minister took noteof the fact that ASI and NMDCexcavations undertaken in2012 at Vidyaranya School infront of the Secretariat yieldednothing, though rumours wererife even then about the hiddentreasure. So, excavations couldnot be done merely on the basisof rumours, the Chief Ministerstated. The Chief Ministerreportedly felt that the oppo-sition parties had raked up the'hidden treasury theory' in aneffort to once again obstructthe construction of the newSecretariat. The oppositionparties had stalled the con-struction of the new Secretariatfor over a year by filing cases

in the High Court, he rea-soned, according to sources.

Last week, the state govern-ment initiated the process ofdemolition of the old Secretariatcomplex to pave way for theconstruction of what it sayswould be a new world-class inte-grated Secretariat complex in itsplace. There are 11 blocks in theold Secretariat complex, some ofwhich were partially demolishedover five days until the HighCourt halted the demolitionworks recently. The case is nowpending in the High Court.MORE TO IT THANMEETS THE EYE

Aside from the queries relat-ing to supposed hidden trea-sure raised by opposition par-ties, the unusual secrecy under

which the state governmentcommenced the demotionwork in the old Secretariatcomplex gave room for suspi-cion that there is more to itthan meets the eye.

Particularly the manner inwhich the state governmentbegan the Secretariat demoli-tion works inter alia by deploy-ing heavy police force duringthe midnight of

July 7 keeping everyone inthe dark, closing all roadsleading to the Secretariat, shut-ting CCTV cameras in andaround the Secretariat premis-es, imposing ban on media andcarrying of mobile phones byofficials or workers inside theSecretariat complex wheredemolition works were in

progress and suspending twopolice constables who hadtaken pictures of the demoliti-ion fuelled speculations thatthe ruling party leaders wereactually on a 'treasure hunt'beneath the G-Block in thename of Secretariat demolition;and, hence, to conceal thisfrom public and media, therulers have imposed unprece-dented restrictions around theSecretariat. The 'hidden trea-sure' theory gained currencyoriginally following the demo-lition of the G-Block, known as'Saifabad Palace' during theNizam's era, whose premisesonce extended up to the pre-sent Mint Compound andfunctioned as the Treasuryduring the Nizam’s rule.

Virus-hit GandhiBhavan closedContinued from Page 1

State Congress secretaryNarender Yadav succumbedto the infection on July 13while undergoing treatment.

Yadav had participated inthe birth anniversary functionof former Chief Minister ofundivided Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekhara Reddy at theGandhi Bhavan on July 8, thesources said. Senior Congressleader and former MP VHanumantha Rao and GudurNarayana Reddy, who werealso infected, have recovered.

TN Okays use of ...Continued from Page 1

Vijayabaskar said the BCG vac-cine was found to boost innateimmunity, which could lowermorbidity and mortality rates.The BCG vaccine could reducethe severity of Covid-19, avoidhospitalisation and mortalityrate, he added.

GRID program will...Continued from Page 1

Hyderabad is a city that has nogeographical hurdles and hasthe scope to develop in all thecorners,” he observed.

KTR noted that under thevisionary leadership of ChiefMinister K Chandrasekhar Rao,the Telangana government wasbuilding infrastructure keepingin mind lakhs of people mov-ing to the city.

During the programme, KTRhanded over conversion lettersto those who had applied for ITPark conversion from theirexisting industrial parks. Withthis, the five companies thatreceived conversion letterswould set up their firms in about25 lakh sqft, creating employ-ment opportunities to about30,000 employees.

Conversion letters were hand-ed over to Hyderabad Distilleriesand Wineries Limited, IDA-Uppal - 12.40 acres; MinactoChem, IDA-Uppal - 2.66 acres;Swamy Soaps and Oils Pvt.

Limited, IDA-Uppal - 2.00Acres; M/s. Gokuldas ExportsLimited, Mini Textile Park,Nacharam - 8.93 Acres; andBakelite Hylam Limited, IDA,Nacharam - 8 acres. An estimat-ed 30,000 people would getdirect jobs in the IT/ ITeS Sectorthrough these five companies.This is in addition to about25,000 employees working in theNSL IT Park and Genpact in theUppal area in the IT sector.

The Minister stated that thegovernment would providecomplete assistance to the com-panies setting up their units onthe eastern side of the city. Thegovernment had been buildinginfrastructure in this region.The eastern part already hadMetro services. Shilparamamtoo was developing fast with theinfrastructure created by thegovernment. The governmentwas strengthening the roadnetwork by constructing a sky-way from Uppal to Narapallyand a flyover from Amberpet toRamanthapur, he said.

Dreaded ultra escapes...Continued from Page 1

According to reports, therewas an ambush by the ultraswhen the police were con-ducting combing operationsin Mangi, Gundala, PankidiMadara forests on a tip-offthat naxalites were campingin the belt. Later, the SP saidany person giving informa-tion about the Maoists or anysuspicious persons in theirarea will be rewarded andtheir identity kept a secret.

The police personnel wereattacked on Wednesday by a13-member group of ultraswho opened fire and fled intoa forest area of Bhadradri-Kothagudem district. Thisfollowed exchange of gunfirein Kumram Bheem Asifabaddistrict late on Tuesday nightin which there were no casu-alties, top police officials said.

It was not clear if some oth-ers on the Maoists side werealso injured in the incident on

Wednesday morning, policesaid. Extensive combing oper-ations were under way at boththe places and in some of theneighbouring regions. Policesaid they initially came acrossfive ultras, led by Telangana'State Committee' member ofthe CPI (Maoist) Bhaskar,who was armed with AK-47gun, at around 10.30 pm onTuesday in Thokkuguda vil-lage in Asifabad District dur-ing ongoing searches.

"The Maoists opened fire atthe police party which retali-ated, following which theyescaped. Bhaskar, who hailsfrom Adilabad district ofTelangana, is allegedlyinvolved in multiple offencesand has been underground fornearly 30 years. He carries areward of Rs 25 lakh on hishead announced by the stategovernment. His wife wasalso a Maoist," AsifabadSuperintendent of Police (In-charge) Vishnu S Warrier said.

3-day-oldinfant ...Continued from Page 1

The timely treatment ofthe kid saved him," DrJothi, the lead surgeon forthe procedure said.

Amidst COVID-19 fearand imposed restrictions ontravel, the hospital saysemergency services werethe worst hit and healthconditions that need imme-diate medical attention havetaken a toll.

It has been observed thatpeople are delaying theirsurgeries owing to the fearof visiting a hospital andcontracting the infection,the hospital said, addingthere is no health conditionirrespective of age groupthat can be ignored or thetreatment for which can beput on hold.

TS studentsshine in CBSE...Continued from Page 1

"I am very happy with theresults," says Seetha Murty,the principal of Silver OaksInternational School, adding,"We have 100% X results andmost of our students havescored more than 90%. Icongratulate all the studentsand teachers for this achieve-ment." Overall, a total of91.46% of students havepassed the examination. Thisyear too, girls have outscoredthe boys, with a pass percent-age of 93.31, while the passpercentage for boys is 90.14%.A total of 2.23% of students,or 41,804, have scored morethan 95% marks in CBSE10th exam this year.

Trivandrum region hasagain topped, with 99.28 passpercentage, followed byChennai (98.95%) andBengaluru (98.23%). The lastamong regions is Guwahati(79.12%).

TS nears 40Kcases, 603patients in ICUContinued from Page 1

Hyderabad continues to behotspot, with 796 cases beingreported on Wednesday.Rangareddy reported 212cases and Medchal reported115 cases, while Karimnagarand Nalgonda reported 32and 31 cases each. In all, 29of the 33 districts in the statereported cases onWednesday.

As on Wednesday, the bedoccupancy is 10.8%, with89.2% of the beds beingvacant. Maximum beds inGandhi Hospital are occu-pied by ICUpatients andthose ono x y g e nsupport. Inall, 495patients arein ICU inGandhi. Overall, 603patients in the state are inICU. While 536 persons arein need of oxygen supply, 335are in Gandhi hospital.

Director of Public Health,in the media bulletin, said, “Itis informed that theGovernment has made elab-orate arrangements for treat-ing COVID-19 patients.Sufficient beds are available inGovernment hospitals. Basedon the clinical requirements,beds will be provided andtreatment will be given free ofcost in Government hospitals.Sufficient quantities of per-sonal protection equipment(PPE) and medicines areavailable in hospitals.”

Health secretary,commissioner...Continued from Page 1

The transfer of these two tophealth officials has triggeredspeculations that the govern-ment is upset with them overtheir handling of the coronasituation in the state. SantiKumari has now been postedas special chief secretary,forests, while Yogita Rana hasbeen posted as Commissioner,Scheduled Castes develop-ment -- considered to beinsignificant over their presentpostings. Syed Ali Murtaza,presently OSD, TelanganaBhavan, New Delhi, has beenposted as health secretary andV.Karuna has been posted ashealth commissioner. JyotiBuddha Prakash has been post-

ed as additional chief electoralofficer. I Rani Kumidini hasbeen posted as special chief sec-retary, labour department,relieving Ahmad Nadeem fromFAC (full additional charge)duties. Rajat Kumar, principalsecretary, irrigation, will contin-ue to hold FAC of the post ofsecretary, environment. AdharSinha has been posted as direc-tor-general, EPTRI, relievingRajat Kumar from FAC. LSharman, additional secretary,MAUD, has been posted as col-lector, Nagarkurnool relievingYasmeen Basha from FAC. ASridevasena, collector, Adilabadhas been posted as director,school education, relievingChitra Ramachandran fromFAC.

Covid-19vaccine coming soonContinued from Page 1

Although there was no imme-diate comment from the com-pany on reports about the pos-itive news due Thursday, aspokeswoman for OxfordUniversity indicated in a blogpost on Tuesday: “I am hearingthere will be positive newssoon (perhaps tomorrow) oninitial trials of the OxfordCOVID-19 vaccine that isbacked by Astra-Zeneca.”

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020 hyderabad 03

RIME ORNERC

Two pseudo cops dupe woman of gold ornaments

HYDERABAD: Two pseudopolicemen conned a woman andtook away her gold ornaments atHabeebnagar on Tuesday.According to police, the victimhad gone to a temple atAghapura and was returninghome when two men stoppedher near Friends Café inSeetharambagh. "The duointroduced themselves aspolicemen and asked her not towear gold ornaments since awoman was recently murdered'in the area," said the police. Oneof the offenders convinced thevictim to remove her bangle andgold chain. The other man took itfrom her and pretended to wrapthe ornaments in a paper andkept it in her bag, asking her togo home safely. "She laterchecked the bag and found thatthe paper had nothing but astone in it," added the official.

Man arrested forselling oxygen cylinders illegally

HYDERABAD: Officials of theCentral Zone Team of theCommissioner's Task Forceapprehended a man who wasillegally procuring and sellingoxygen cylinders to customers athigh prices without any validlicense on Wednesday. Thearrested person has beenidentified as Shaker Hussain, 62,from Musheerabad. According tothe Police, Hussain runs abusiness 'Raas Agencies' atBakaram. Taking advantage ofthe Covid-19 situation, theaccused hatched a plan to selloxygen cylinders at a higherprice to customers. Hepurchased the cylinders withoutany valid license and illegallysold them from his shop. TheTask Force officials apprehendedhim and seized 87 oxygencylinders from his possession.

Man held for rape, murder

HYDERABAD: A driver whoallegedly raped and murdered awoman at Kulsumpura a weekago was arrested by the policehere on Tuesday.The accused,identified as G Ravi, 28, ofAttapur had raped and murdereda woman on July 7 at a housewhere he was invited for a party."The victim was a resident ofJiyaguda. She had also attendedthe party where the accused waspresent. Upon finding her aloneon the first floor of the house,the man took advantage andallegedly raped her. He thenmurdered her to avoid policecomplaint from her and fled thescene," said police. Ravi wastraced and nabbed by the policeteams on Tuesday night.

BIE may allot internal marks in InterPNS n HYDERABAD

In the wake of Covid-19 pan-demic, the Telangana StateBoard of IntermediateEducation (TSBIE) is plan-ning on various ways toensure the students are notstressed with the syllabus.

As part of the assessment,the TSBIE now plans to intro-duce the concept of internalmarks for the intermediatestudents. If this proposal getsapproved then each subjectwill have 20 marks for inter-nal assessments. Which mean,of the 100 marks that the stu-dents will be marked on eachsubject, 80 marks will be forboth theory and practicals,while 20 will be internalassessment marks.

Apart from this, the Boardhas also proposed to reducethe syllabus by at least 30 per

cent. Sharing some details,about the new Intermediatesession, Syed Omer Jaleel,IAS, Secretary of TelanganaBoard of IntermediateEducation says, "We under-stand that the students aretensed due to the current sit-uation, so we want to doeverything to ease their diffi-culties. We are in discussionto reduce nearly 30 per centportion from both first andsecond year Inter students.This will be done across allstreams. We are also planningto teach the students in ablended way, that is online aswell as offline in a class,whenever the situation per-mits.

The video content for dig-ital classes will be made avail-able through the BIE'sYouTube channel besidesbeing telecast through T-SAT

and Doordarshan Yadagirichannels.

The lessons taught onlinewill not be repeated in theclasses taken in institutions.

While the proposals havebeen made to the government,a decision is yet to be reached.

Rain brings to fore dilapidated condition of Osmania Hospital

Heavy flooding inside the Osmania General Hospital

NAVEENA GHANATE n HYDERABAD

Rain and drainage waterentered into state-run OsmaniaGeneral Hospital in Hyderabadon Wednesday, turning theoldest and one of the biggesthealthcare facilities inTelangana into a cesspool.

It was a flood-like situationin the over a century old hos-pital with the employees strug-gling to prevent the waterfrom entering the building.

Videos and images of waterflowing into the hospital andwashing away various articlesand patients on bed whichwent viral on social media,shows the pathetic condition ofOsmania Hospital, which hasnow become only hospital fornon-Covid-19 patients.

The flood which was con-fined to corridors on Tuesday,water entered into the in-patient and out-patient wardson Wednesday. Patients andtheir attendants were sittingatop beds with ankle-deep

water flooding the ward.Videos from the hospital

that emerged on Wednesday,shows water flowing into thehospital and washing awayvarious articles and hospitalstaff trying to stem the flowwent viral.

The sanitation staff who arealready overburdened cater-ing to patients, now have addi-tional task to do. While the stategovernment has been askingpeople to remove stagnantwater from homes, the condi-tion of Osmania Hospital maylead to cross infection, especial-ly with drainage water beingmixed with the flood water.

A doctor said, "Since fewdays this has been case and wegave representations toMinisters, but the status quoremains. This is not domesticdrainage but hospital drainage,so patients might get new dis-eases."

"This is the state of OsmaniaGovt Hospital now!! CoronaPandemic sweeping the cityand look at waterlogging in one

of the most well-known gov-ernment hospitals in the heartof Hyderabad!! Reflecting theabysmal standards of KCRAdministration," tweetedTelangana Congress chiefUttam Kumar Reddy with apicture of a flooded ward.

"This is the state of affairs inOsmania Hospital, Hyderabad& our CM KCR is busy demol-ishing a functional secretariat

and building a Nizam erapalace. What an irony," tweet-ed BJP leader Krishna SagarRao.

While GHMC wasinformed, corporation offi-cials pointed that the drainagenetwork within the hospitalpremises had been looked intoby the Roads and Buildingsdepartment.

It was in 2015 that the TRSgovernment had proposed todemolish the building on theground that it is structurallyweak and unfit to run a regu-lar hospital. It wanted to buildtwo towers, of 24 floors each.

However, strong oppositionfrom historians, heritageactivists and prominent citi-zens forced the government todrop its plans to demolish thebuilding.

Spread over 26.5 acres, thehospital has 11 major blocks.The inpatient block alone wasover an area of 2.37 acres witha total bed capacity of 1,168beds including 363 in super-speciality wards.

Being infected with Corona isnot a crime, says writer SwarnaPNS n HYDERABAD

With two persons from afamily infected withCoronavirus, Swarna Kilari, awriter and homemaker saysthat we can conquerCoronavirus with proper careand optimism.

Swarna said, "Being infect-ed with Coronavirus is nei-ther a crime nor something tobe feared about. From themoment I actually got the sus-picion, until the second reportcame negative, not a singleday was I scared. There is noneed to keep it a secret."

Swarna initially had feverand soon her niece Darahasawho stayed along also startedshowing symptoms. She said,"We gave our samples in KingKoti hospital. By the time ourreports came, fever had sub-sided, but we were feelingvery lethargic, coughing,slight breathing problems,lost sense of taste and smellapart from headache." Theycouldn't conclude how they

contacted theinfection.

While both ofthem were initial-ly scared, soon theydecided to home isolate them-selves. After speaking to doc-tors, the duo were isolating inthe same room. She said"Because I had my niecealong, boredom didn't strikeus and we were there for each

other. I have completed writ-ing pending articles, watchedmovies online. We used to dosome Yoga and walk in theroom itself."

She points out that thegovernment call center calledthem to check about theirhealth. Swarna said, "My hus-band Dileep Konatham wasboosting our morale, keepingus engaged by telling us thedetails of those who con-

quered the infectious dis-ease. My sister Indira

helped us throughthe 14 days of isola-tion by taking careof our family."

She added thatcourage and nutri-

tious food areimportant to fight the

infection. Swarna said,"Courage is especially impor-tant. We took healthy foodincluding kada, boiled egg,soaked almonds, sprouts,fruits, juices, turmeric milk.We also had chicken in themeal once in two days."

COVID

WINNER

SPEAKS...

It was a flood-like situation inthe over acentury oldhospital withthe employeesstruggling toprevent thewater fromentering thebuilding

Hyd Zoo's chimp Suzicelebrates 34th b'dayPNS n HYDERABAD

Chimpanzee 'Suzi' at theNehru Zoological Park inHyderabad on Wednesday cel-ebrated 34th birthday.

The zoo managementorganised the celebration withthe animal keeper and veteri-nary staff at Suzi's enclosureduly following Covid-19 pro-tocol.

According to Zoo CuratorN Kshitija, a fruit cake withfruits and bread was preparedfor Suzi at the Zoo kitchen.The entire enclosure wasarranged with different typesof fruits and vegetables ofSuzi's choice.

Kshitija, Deputy CuratorA. Nagamani, Assistant

Curator Satish Babu, andDeputy Range Officer Anithawere present on the occasion.

The celebration broughtsome cheers to the Zoo, whichis closed for visitors for morethan three months due toCovid-19 induced lockdown.

Early this month the Zoolost a Royal Bengal tiger,which died of heart failure.This came close on the heelsof the death of a white tigerdue to neoplastic tumour.

Spread over 300 acres, theZoo is home to nearly 181indigenous and exotic species,including 1,716 animals, birds,and reptiles.

Known as one of the bestzoos in Asia, it attracts around30 lakh visitors annually.

The Telangana State Board ofIntermediate Education

(TSBIE) will soon launch itsonline classes channel onYouTube soon similar to that ofcoaching institutes trainingstudents for competitiveexaminations. The board isrecording the lessons with thehelp of the expert teachers forthe benefit of students pursuingIntermediate in private andgovernment colleges. So far, 30per cent of the recording oflessons is through. The title ofthe channel is stated to beDepartment of Inter Education e-learning. The advantage of theonline lessons channel is thestudent can listen to the lessonsany number of times and canrecord them to listen as and

when he required. An official inIntermediate Education Boardwho wished to remainanonymous said that soonCollegiate EducationDepartment, Technical EducationDepartment and universities arelikely to start their onlinelessons channels soon. About10 days ago, an online classeschannel titled Model SchoolsTelangana was started by modelschools here. The channel isuseful to teach Inter second yearclasses online. In about a week,Intermediate first year onlineclasses will be started.Subsequently, online lessons forSSC will be started. The channelhas over 5,500 subscribers sofar. Webinars are beingconducted in the channel.

BIE to start YouTube channel Couple ends lifeas parents rejecttheir proposalPNS n HYDERABAD

A couple committed suicideby consuming pesticide in ahotel at Medipally on Tuesdaymidnight after their parentsrejected their love proposal.

The victims were identifiedas Ajay, 23 and Sravani, 21,both working as privateemployees. Ajay and Sravaniwent to a hotel at Medipallyon Tuesday. The couple issaid to have consumed a poi-sonous substance to end theirlives. The hotel staff noticedthe couple lying unconsciousin the room and alerted thepolice.

Online sandscam busted PNS n HYDERABAD

Officials of the SOT nabbedtwo persons who were book-ing sand fraudulently onWednesday.

The arrested persons havebeen identified as Adesh Jain,21, and Arihanth Jain, 25,from Kamareddy town.

To prevent illegal trans-portation of sand, the govern-ment of Telangana has start-ed online booking for sandthrough SSMMS. The onlineportal is open only for 15minutes every day.

Taking this as an advan-tage, the accused persons,who have good experience inonline booking, started book-ing sand under the guise ofreal customers by acceptingcommission of Rs 500 to Rs2,000 from them dependingupon the demand.

The accused persons haveso far made transactions ofnearly 50 lakh rupees. Rs5,86,367 is available in allaccounts together as ofWednesday, said the Police.Officials seized five laptops,three mobiles and receiptsfrom their possession.

PNS n HYDERABAD

The District Medical andHealth Officer Venkat onWednesday said that thenumber of tests to diagnoseCoronavirus have beenincreased in twin cities andadvised people to undergoantigen tests to get immedi-ate result.

Arrangements are beingmade to conduct the antigentests in all primary healthcentres soon. Currently, thetests are being conducted in65 centres in twin cities.

Those who have no facili-ty to undergo home isolationcan avail isolation in govern-ment facilities, he said. Bedsare available in nature cure,ayurveda hospitals. Homeisolation will be prescribedonly on the basis of self-dec-laration. He put the totalnumber of patients receivingtreatment under home isola-tion condition at 11,705. Sofar, 16,660 have recoveredfrom the virus receiving treat-ment under home isolation.

TS rolls outrapid tests at65 centres

Students urge TSCHE to cancel impending examsPNS n HYDERABAD

The representatives of StudentsFederation of India (SFI)approached Telangana StateCouncil for Higher Education(TSCHE) Secretary SrinivasaRao, to request cancelation ofthe vocational, undergraduateand postgraduate examina-tions pending in the state.

Noting that the stateUniversities are going to holdexaminations as per the new

UGC guidelines, SFI askedthe authorities to cancel allexams in view of the currentpandemic.

"There are 1 lakh regulardegree final year students inthe state of Telangana and40,000 supplementary stu-dents. A total of 45,000 finalyear students in all vocationalcourses are expected to takethe exams in the wake of thecorona outbreak. Along withthem, PG students are also

scheduled to appear for theexams. The exams have alreadybeen canceled in states likeWest Bengal, Rajasthan,Madhya Pradesh and Delhi,"read the petition.

It added, "In TS, along withthe city of Hyderabad andmany other districts, coronahas been asked to postponeexams and promote students inthese conditions. We requestTSCHE Secretary SrinivasaRao to look into the issue."

Man held for Tinder forex fraudPNS n HYDERABAD

The Cyber Crime Police ofCyberabad on Wednesdayarrested a fraudster for cheat-ing the complainant in thename of Forex Trade aftertrapping the victim throughthe Tinder app.

The arrested person hasbeen identified as K RajeshKumar, a resident of Kondapur.Two other accused in the case,Mike from China and Minafrom Hong Kong, are abscond-ing. Rajesh Kumar, is a B.TechGraduate and works as a free-lancer. He came into contactwith Mike when he visitedChina in 2018. He collaborat-ed with Mike and provided

three bank accounts of hisfriends for transfering fundsfrom victims.

The victim met Mina onTinder and was convincedabout Forex trade. After talk-ing to Mike, he paid an amountof Rs 2,30,000 into the accountheld by Irfan. He was shownprofits in his Forex Tradeaccount initially. Believing thesame to be true, he paid anamount of Rs 15,20,000 in the

bank account of Irfan.However, when he tried towithdraw money, he wasunable to do so. Learning thathe was cheated, he approachedthe Cyber Crime police.

Officials are investigatingand trying to identify the othervictims, who were also cheat-ed by Mina with Mike's andKumar's help.

The accused Rajesh Kumar,who shared the bank accountdetails of his friend MohdIrfan for remitting the amountsby victims and transferred theamounts in the form of Bitcointo the accused Mike, wasarrested and produced beforethe court for judicial custodyon Tuesday.

Free Corona treatmentat TS medical collegesPNS n HYDERABAD

The state government is goingto provide free Covid-19 treat-ment at 20 medical collegesboth government and privateones.

While Malla Reddy,Kamineni and MamathaMedical colleges have beenpicked initially, the other col-leges will be facilitating thetreatment shortly. A help deskwould be established there toguide patients and suspects.

Health Department officials

said that a WhatsApp numberto lodge grievances related toCovid-19 price capping viola-tions will be released shortly.Official said victim could com-plain to that number and gov-ernment would look into themand take action. It was clarifiedthat in the coming days the statewill monitor the treatmentbeing done by private hospitals.

Meanwhile, the state govern-ment has released a WhatsAppnumber - 9154170960 to reportviolations by private hospitals inthe state.

Police academy directorinjured in road accidentPNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana State PoliceRecruitment Board Chairmanand in charge director of theState Police Academy, VVSrinivasa Rao, was injured in anaccident at Manchirevula onWednesday night.

Srinivasa Rao, who sufferedinjuries after his SUV over-turned, was admitted to a cor-porate hospital in Gachibowli,where his condition was stated

to be stable. "The cause of mishap is

being ascertained. We rushedhim to Hospital for medicalattention as per protocols, fur-ther questioning is due," offi-cials said. He was recently giventhe additional charge of theState Police Academy after theprevious director VK Singhwas transferred. Srinivasa Raohad earlier worked as theHyderabad City PoliceCommissioner.

Cops raid snookerparlour, arrest 14PNS n HYDERABAD

The Hyderabad Commissi-oner's East Zone Task Forceteam raided a snooker par-lour at Chaderghat on lateTuesday night. The officialscaught 14 persons who wereplaying the game by violatinglockdown rules. The manage-ment opened the snookerparlour in violation of lock-down orders and invited cus-tomers to play," Task Forceofficials said, adding that allthe 14 were taken into cus-tody for questioning andseized the snooker parlour.

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020 hyderabad 04

Braving heavy rains, Adilabad Circle chief conservator of forests CP Vinod Kumar, FDO Asifabad Vinay Kumar Sahoo, RangeOfficer Purnima inspecting the saplings planted as part of Haritha Haram at Rebbana Range on Wednesday

ON DDUTY

Corona takes a toll on bank staffPNS n HYDERABAD

Coronavirus has been affectingthe banking operations espe-cially in the Old City ofHyderabad with one branch orthe other getting closed as itsemployees are testing positivefor the virus. If any bankemployee tests positive for thevirus, the branch is beingclosed for three days. Thebranches are getting reopenedonly after fully sanitising it.

After easing the lockdown,the number of customers vis-iting the banks registered anincrease. In Old City, onebranch or the other is gettingclosed as some of the staffmembers getting tested positivefor the virus. One of the bankofficers wishing to remainanonymous expressed concernover the bank employees con-

tracting the virus in spite ofbanks taking all precautions.

During lockdown period,only part of the bank employ-ees attended duty. Currently, allbank staff members are report-ing for work. In some branch-es, there is no scope for observ-

ing social distance. Customersare visiting the bank brancheson one pretext or the other inspite of the banks advising themagainst visiting the branchesunless it is so essential.

The customers have beenadvised to use digital banking

services, yet they are visitingthe bank branches. A publicsector bank in Hyderabad hasto shut some branches to sani-tise them since 30 employeesworking in some of the branch-es contracted the virus.

A public sector bank in

Secunderabad was closed forthree days as a senior officer ofthe bank tested positive for thevirus. In Moti Nagar too, asenior bank official tested pos-itive for the virus leading to itsclosure for few days. A privatebank in SR Nagar had to beclosed for three days as two ofthe staff members tested pos-itive for the virus.

The employees working inbranches, particularly ruralbranches, complain that theywere not provided adequatefacilities though they wereasked to work in containmentzones also. "There are no ther-mal scanners in our branch nora security guard to control thevisitors. Due to lack of space,it is very difficult to maintainphysical distance." laments abank employee, who did notwant to be quoted.

Dubai hospital waives Rs1 crbill for TS Covid-19 patientPNS n HYDERABAD

A 42-year-old man from Jagtialdistrict, who was admitted toDubai Hospital in Dubai, UAEdue to Coronavirus was waivedoff the bull of Rs 1.52 croreafter 80 days of treatment onhumanitarian grounds. He wasalso given a free ticket and Rs10,000 cash and landed inHyderabad on Tuesday.

Odnala Rajesh (42) ofVenugumatla village inGollapalli mandal of Jagtialdistrict was admitted to 'DubaiHospital' in Dubai, UAE onApril 23 due to illness and wastested positive for Coronavirus.

Rajesh who recovered after80 days of treatment, was dis-charged by the hospital andhanded over a bill of 7,62,555Dirhams (Rs 1 crore 52 lakh)to him.

Gundelli Narasimha, pres-ident of the Gulf Workers

Protection Society in Dubai,who took the worker to thehospital from the beginningand visited him regularly,brought the matter to theattention of Sumanth Reddyan Indian Consulate volun-teer in Dubai.

Volunteer Sumanth Reddyand Ashok Kotecha of BAPSSwaminarayan Trust request-ed Harjeet Singh, Consul

(Labour) of Indian Consulatein Dubai to help the poorworker. Consulate OfficerHarjeet Singh wrote a letter toDubai Hospital managementasking them to waive the billon humanitarian grounds andthey responded positively andwaived the bill and dischargedthe patient.

Ashok Kotecha providedfree flight tickets to the patientOdnala Rajesh and his escortDyavara Kankaiah and paidRs10,000 for pocket expenses.Patient and escort was sent byAir India flight from Dubai toHyderabad on Tuesday.

After reaching theHyderabad airport at night,Telangana NRI officer EChittibabu granted permis-sion to a 14-day home quar-antine and handed over thepatient to his family membersand sent him back to hisnative village.

‘Political pressure'irks doctorsPNS n HYDERABAD

As if serving in Covid-19ward wasn't enough, thedemands by the admittedpatients have been causingadditional pain to doctors. Adoctor posted in Covid-19ward on condition ofanonymity said, "We treat allpatients equally and give themrequired attention. But offlate there are too many callsfrom politicians and someofficials demanding us to givemore attention to the patient.We can't sit with the patient allthroughout the day. Someseem to be disrespectful andrude as well".

Some patients say they knowsome TRS leader or BJP leader,others say MIM, and some saythey are kin of officials in thePolice Department. A doctorsaid, "One of the patients saidthat he is Owaisi's man, knows

some TRS leader and wasdemanding continuously. Asdoctors posted in Covid-19ward, we don't have to just treatpatients, but have to do lot ofreporting and accountabilitywork. We already have to dealwith physical and mentalstress, due to PPE and anxiety,now this recommendationstress is piling up on us".

Referring such patients toother government hospitals isnot working out as they arealready short staffed. Thedoctor added, "Someoneshould brief the politiciansabout patient care. We don'thave a magic wand to reducethe infective period of a per-son. Some take 14 days, sometake 28 days and some manytake less to be cured of theinfection". Doctors are toobusy to worry on how theserecommendations are going toimpact them.

PNS n HYDERABAD

Former Minister MohammedAli Shabbir has alleged thatTRS government wasindulging in criminal negli-gence in protecting the lives ofcommon people from deadlyCoronavirus in the State.Shabbir Ali said that ChiefMinister K ChandrashekharRao and Health MinisterEatala Rajender were not seri-ous in saving the lives of poorpeople who were affected byCovid-19. He said all tallclaims made by Chief Minsiter,Minister KT Rama Rao andHealth Minister Rajender onmedical facilities for Covid-19patients in districts were prov-ing to be hollow and fake. Hesaid people living in ruralareas have no facilities, what-soever to get themselves treat-

ed from the Coronavirus. Hepointed out that a 32-year-oldwoman of Kamareddy, whowas nine month pregnant, gotinfected with Covid-19 alongwith seven members of herfamily. On Tuesday, she devel-oped labour pains and wasrushed to KamareddyGovernment Hospital.However, the hospital author-

ities refused to admit her onthe grounds that they don'thave facilities to perform deliv-ery of a Covid-19 patient.

"When the issue was broughtto my knowledge, I spoke to thehospital authorities inKamareddy. They expressedtheir helplessness in attendingto the pregnant woman andadvised that she be rushed toNizamabad GovernmentHospital. On their advice, shewas sent to Nizamabad. Theretoo, the hospital authoritiesexpressed their inability toadmit her due to lack of Covid-19 beds and advised that thewoman be taken to GandhiHospital in Hyderabad. Leftwith no choice, she was imme-diately rushed to Hyderabad.Unfortunately, she died on theway to Hyderabad," heinformed.

Cong blames govt for Covid-19 deaths

PNS n HYDERABAD

The loss of tax revenue to thestate government is putbetween Rs 400 and Rs 500crore a month as manyunscrupulous traders resortedto zero business taking advan-tage of commercial tax officialsminimised the inspection ofvehicles at check-posts becauseof the Covid-19 situation.

The tax authorities say thatthe electronic goods are being

smuggled into the state fromNew Delhi on a large scale. Totransport goods worth Rs50,000 and more way-bills arenecessary. The officials shouldprocure electronic way bills totransport their goods. Theway bill contains all particularslike the quantity of goods andorigin and destination of thegoods. On the basis of the bill,the GST is levied. If the goodsare transported without thesebills, it is impossible to detect

the transportation of goods. Because of the Covid-19

situation, the Centre extendedthe last date for filing ITreturns and remittances ofGST. Taking advantage of it,the traders have been resort-ed to illegal transportation ofgoods. The traders are takingadvantage of increased sale of elec-tronic goods during the lockdownperiod. Besides the electronicgoods, the construction materialis being transported illegally.

Illegal transportation of goods costs govt dearly

Telangana gets 7 new Ekalavya schoolsPNS n HYDERABAD

Bringing cheers to studentsbelonging to Scheduled Tribecommunity, the Central gov-ernment has sanctioned sevennew Ekalavya ModelResidential Schools toTelangana State, that wouldprovide admission to about 840students from the tribal com-munity. They are in addition tothe existing 16 EMRS function-ing in the State, which have atotal tribal students' strength ofabout 5,250.

The State government isspending Rs 1.09 lakh on eachstudent to provide education.

The total expenditure on pro-viding residential educationto ST students is put at Rs 9.15crore. Currently, there are 16Ekalavya Modal ResidentialSchools in the state with a totalstrength of 5,250 students. Thestate government incurs Rs5,722.50 lakh annually for edu-

cation of the students. The totalnumber of such schools willincrease to 23 with the Centresanctioning seven more.

Of the seven schools, twowill be set up in Mahbubabad,one in Adilabad district, threein Kothagudem-Bhadradri dis-trict and one in Khammamdistrict. The Minister saidChief Minister KChandrashekhar Rao has beenstriving for development ofthe State which was createdafter decades of struggle andstated that due to his interven-tion, the Central governmentsanctioned the new residentialschools.

TPCC's PVNR centenarycelebrations from July 24PNS n HYDERABAD

TPCC president N UttamKumar Reddy and TPCCPV Narasimha RaoCentenar y CelebrationsCommittee chairman Dr JGeetha Reddy onWednesday informed that ithas been decided to launchthe centenary celebrations offormer Prime MinisterNarasimha Rao from July 24.

They informed that theTPCC's Committee vice-chairman D Sridhar Babu,Convener Mahesh KumarGoud and member KVenugopal recently met thefamily members of PV

Narasimha Rao to discussabout the centenary cele-brations. They had interac-tion with PV Prabhakar Rao,PV Manohar Rao and VaniDevi.

Narasimha Rao's brotherPV Manohar Rao has agreedto be the chief patron ofTPCC's Committee for cen-tenary celebrations. Uttaminformed that PV NarasimhaRao's association with theCongress party, his politicalideology, economic reforms,foreign affairs and otheraspects of his life would bebrought to the notice of thepeople through various pro-grammes as part of cente-nary celebrations.

Srisailam gets heavy inflowsPNS n SUNNIPENTA

On account of heavy rains inupper reaches of Srisailamproject, the project is receiv-ing heavy inflows. OnWednesday morning, the pro-ject received 49,895 cusecs ofinflows. In addition, the pro-ject is receiving 1,100 cusecsinflows from Handri-Neevaproject.

Against the full reservoirlevel of the project of 885 feet,water-level in the project wasmeasured at 815.50 feet.Against the water storagecapacity of 215 tmc of the pro-ject, the water level measured

in the project as 37.6570 tmc.Similarly, Jurala project is alsoreceiving inflows of 60,000cusecs of flood water onaccount of heavy rains in theupper reaches of the project.

Water level in Jurala Projectis measured as 318.440 metersas against the full-reservoirlevel of 318.515 meters.

During lockdownperiod, only partof the bank staffattended duty.Currently, all bankstaff members arereporting for work.In some branches,there is no scopefor observingsocial distance

PNS n HYDERABAD

The Telangana High Court onWednesday extended the stayon the demolition of existingSecretariat buildings by anoth-er day. The court asked theCentral government to spell outits stand if demolition workrequires environmental clear-ance from the Ministry ofEnvironment.

A division bench of ChiefJustice Raghvendra SinghChauhan and Justice B.Vijayasen Reddy, onWednesday resumed the hear-ing on the petition challengingthe demolition work.

Advocate General BS Prasad

submitted to the court a copyof the resolution passed by thecabinet to demolish the existingbuildings of the Secretariat tobuild a new complex. The peti-tioner's counsel argued thatenvironmental clearance wasnot taken for the demolitionwork. The government, howev-er, contended that there is noneed for environmental clear-ance, and that the permissionwas taken from the GreaterHyderabad MunicipalCorporation (GHMC).Thebench asked the Central gov-ernment to inform it onThursday whether demolitionwork requires environmentalclearance.

HC again extends stay on Secretariat demolition

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020 nation 05

SHORT READS

NSTI extension centreto come up in Ladakh:LG MathurLEH: Ladakh Lt Governor R KMathur on Wednesday said aNational Skill Training Instituteextension centre is set to comeup here. Making the announce-ment on World Youth Skills Day,Mathur said the NSTI extensioncentre would impart qualitytraining to the youths of Ladakh,thus empowering and equippingthem with industry relevantskills to earn their livelihood. Aninitiative of the DirectorateGeneral of Training, Ministry ofSkill Development andEntrepreneurship, the extensioncentre aims at capacity-buildingof the polytechnics andindustrial training institutes byproviding training to thetrainers, an official spokes-person said. The NSTI centrewould also introduce program-mes such as refresher training,re-skilling or up skilling courses,craftsmen training schemes,instructor training schemes,apprenticeship training schemesand national skills qualificationframeworks, he said.

Bengal MLA's death:Mamata tells prez it'ssuicide not murder

All Punjab ministers toundergo Covid-19 testCHANDIGARH: Punjab ChiefMinister Amarinder Singh hasadvised his cabinet colleaguesto undergo test for coronavirusafter one of the ministers testedpositive for the infection. “Allthe cabinet ministers will givetheir samples for testing(coronavirus) today. Theirresults will come by todayevening or tomorrow,” HealthMinister Balbir Singh Sidhutold reporters here onWednesday. Officials said thechief minister has advised hisministers to get themselvestested as a precautionarymeasure. Punjab RuralDevelopment and PanchayatsMinister Tript Rajinder SinghBajwa on Tuesday had testedpositive for the novelcoronavirus. He is the firstminister in the state to contractthe infection.

KOLKATA: A day after a BJPdelegation met President RamNath Kovind seeking dismissalof the Mamata Banerjeegovernment over the "poiticalmurder" of a party MLA, theWest Bengal chief ministerwrote a latter to him claimingthe saffron party might havepresented "distorted facts". Shesaid the case has been handedover to the CID for properinvestigation. A TrinamoolCongress delegation led byRajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brienalso called on the president atRashtrapati Bhavan andapprised him of the details ofthe case. In the letter, Banerjeecited the preliminary probe bythe state police and thepostmortem report to claimDebendra Nath Roy's death "isa case of suspected suicide anddoes not appear to be apolitical case as being projectedby the BJP".

RAJASTHAN POLITICAL CRISIS

Sachin Pilot says not joining BJPPNS n NEW DELHI

"I am not joining the BJP,"Congress leader Sachin Pilotsaid on Wednesday, assertingthat the speculation about hisswitching sides was being fuelledby certain leaders in Rajasthanto tarnish his image

Pilot's remarks come a dayafter the Congress sacked him asRajasthan's deputy chief minis-ter and the party's state unit pres-ident. Two loyalists of Pilot werealso dropped from the stateCabinet.

"I have worked very hard tobring the Congress party back inthe government and defeat theBJP," he said.

In an apparent reference toChief Minister Ashok Gehlot'scamp, Pilot said some leaders inRajasthan were trying to fuelspeculation that he is joining theBJP and that he would like to cat-egorically state that he was notdoing so.

"Such a speculation is beingfuelled to tarnish my image," hesaid. After being sacked, Pilothad tweeted in Hindi onTuesday, "Truth can be rattled,not defeated."

Gehlot has accused his formerdeputy of playing into the hands

of the BJP Pilot had kept awayfrom two CLP meetings held onMonday and Tuesday afterwhich the action against him wastaken.

Pilot has been upset sincethe Congress picked Gehlot asthe chief minister after the2018 assembly polls, while hisown supporters insisted thathe deserved credit for theparty's victory as its state unitpresident.

The current crisis eruptedlast Friday when the Rajasthan

Police sent a notice to Pilot, ask-ing him to record his statementover the alleged bid to bringdown the government.

The same notice was sent tothe chief minister and someother MLAs, but Pilot's support-ers claimed that it was onlymeant to humiliate him.

The Special Operation Group(SOG) had sent out the noticesafter tapping a phone conversa-tion between two men, who wereallegedly discussing the fall of theGehlot government.

PNS n JAIPUR

Rajasthan Chief MinisterAshok Gehlot on Wednesdayaccused rebel Congress leaderSachin Pilot of involvement inhorse trading with the BJP.

Pilot was removed fromthe posts of the Rajasthandeputy chief minister and thestate Congress president onTuesday amid a power tusslewith Gehlot.

In an interaction withreporters here, the chief min-ister, however, did not mentionPilot by his name but said the"former Pradesh CongressCommittee president" washimself “doing the deal”.

Gehlot said he has the proofthat horse trading was beingcommitted to topple his gov-ernment.

“Those who are giving clar-ifications were themselvesinvolved in horse trading,”Gehlot told reporters.

The CM said he (Pilot)would have performed quitegood had he "struggled in hisyouth". Gehlot also hit out atthe national media saying it issupporting those who are“involved in murderingdemocracy".

Pilot involved in horsetrading, says Gehlot

TMC expels party leaders; BJP, CPM talk toughCYCLONE AID SCAM

PNS n KOLKATA

As protests continued in partsof West Bengal over allegedmisappropriation of monetarycompensation to the peopleaffected by cyclone 'Amphan',the ruling TMC cracked awhip against corruption andexpelled several party leadersand workers, while the BJP andCPI(M) said that they won'tstand by those who have beenproven guilty.

Although TrinamoolCongress (TMC), which con-trols nearly 80 per cent of thestate's panchayats, has been atthe receiving end of the pub-lic ire, the opposition BJP andthe CPI(M) have also facedprotests in some areas overallegations of fraud related tothe 'Amphan' aid delivery.

The protests have been tak-ing place in various parts ofEast Midnapore, South and

North 24 Parganas, the worst-affected districts by the cyclone'Amphan' which hit WestBengal on May 20, killing 96people and leaving behind atrail of destruction.

"Whenever any complaintwas received, we took actionagainst the accused leadersand party workers. We haveeither suspended or askedthem to return money. Wehave zero- tolerance towardscorruption," a senior TMC

leader said.Several local level TMC

leaders were recently expelledfrom the party for their allegedinvolvement in corruption andnepotism, he said.

West Bengal Chief Ministerand TMC president MamataBanerjee recently said that hergovernment was rectifying the"lapses" which might haveoccurred in its effort to pay thecompensation to the cyclone-hit victims quickly.

PNS n GUWAHATI

The Assam government's deci-sion to upgrade the DehingPatkai Wildlife Sanctuary into anational park has enthused envi-ronmental conservationists andactivists but with this the long-standing demand to encompassthe entire 500 sq km of the con-tiguous rainforests, known asAmazon of the East, within itsambit has gathered momentum.

Conservationists have beendemanding that the govern-ment include the adjoiningreserved forests connected withthe existing wildlife sanctuarylike Joypore reserved forests,Upper Dehing East Block andthe Upper Dehing West Block tothe proposed national park.

Prominent personalities ofthe state like actor Adil Hussain,singer Papon, musician JoiBarua, former Axom Xahitya

Xabha chief ParmanandaRajbongshi, author and journal-ist Anuradha Sarma Pujari andartist Dadul Chaliha have alsobeen appealing to the govern-ment to include the reserveforests within the proposed park.

Ethnic communities of the vil-lages surrounding the reserveforests has also extended theirunstinted support to this entiremovement.

Last week, Assam Chief

Minister Sarbananda Sonowalissued a directive to upgrade thesanctuary into a national park.

The sanctuary encompassesonly 111.11 sq km but the stretchof rainforests include 500 sq kmof the Joypur, Upper Dehing andDirok reserved forests, spreadover the two districts of Tinsukiaand Dibrugarh, saidSoumyadeep Dutta, director ofenvironmental organisationNature's Beckon.

Record number of samples testedfor Covid-19: ICMR officialsPNS n NEW DELHI

More than 3.2 lakh sampleswere tested for COVID-19 onTuesday, the highest so far on aday, taking the cumulative num-ber of tests conducted in thecountry till July 14 to1,24,12,664, Indian Council ofMedical Research (ICMR) offi-cials said.

According to the UnionHealth Ministry, the testingper million for India is consis-tently rising and has touched8994.7 on Wednesday.

"A cumulative total of1,24,12,664 samples have beentested up to July 14. A total of3,20,161 samples were testedon Tuesday, the highest so farconducted in a day," Scientistand media coordinator at theICMR, Dr Lokesh Sharma, said.

The per day testing capacity,which was around 1.5 lakh onMay 25, is nearly four lakh perday now, Sharma informed.

India registered a record sin-

gle day jump of 29,429 COVID-19 cases pushing its tally to9,36,181 on Wednesday, whilethe death toll climbed to 24,309with 582 new fatalities, accord-ing to Health Ministry data.

The WHO in its GuidanceNote on “Public Health Criteriato Adjust Public Health andSocial Measures in the Contextof COVID-19” has advised com-prehensive surveillance and test-ing for suspected cases.

While explaining the concept

of comprehensive surveillanceand testing of suspect cases, theWHO advised that a countryneeds to conduct 140 tests perday per million population, theministry said.

As many as 22 states aredoing more than 140 COVID-19tests per day per million in linewith comprehensive testingguidance note by the WHO, saidthe Health Ministry, while advis-ing the remaining states and UTsto increase testing to match the

WHO advised levels, the min-istry said. One of the factorsstrongly aiding the increasingnumbers of COVID-19 tests inthe country is the steadily grow-ing network of labs for testing ofCOVID-19. With 865 labs in thegovernment sector and 358 pri-vate labs, the total number of test-ing labs is 1223, as on date.

In addition to the gold stan-dard for test, RT PCR, TrueNatand CBNAAT are also used toaugment this facility, it said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Prime Minister NarendraModi on Wednesday reviewedthe ongoing developmentwork at Kedarnath Dham inUttarakhand with a focus onfacilities for travellers, hisoffice said.

Last month also the primeminister had reviewed theprogress of the developmentwork at the shrine.

The discussions centredaround furthering the divini-

ty of Kedarnath temple andJagadguru AdiShankaracharya's 'samadhisthal', maintaining cleanlinessand ensuring extensive devel-opment, the Prime Minister'sOffice said in a statement.

The review also focussed onensuring that travellers get allfacilities on the Gaurikund-Kedarnath route and arrange-ments be made to showcasethe historical and cultural sig-nificance of the pilgrimageusing technology, it added.

PM reviews developmentwork at Kedarnath Dham

PNS n NEW DELHI

The Indian military conveyed a"very clear" message to theChinese army during a nearly 15-hour-long talks that status quoante must be restored in easternLadakh and it will have to followall mutually agreed protocols forborder management to bringback peace and tranquillity alongthe Line of Actual Control, gov-ernment sources said onWednesday. During the course ofthe intense and complex nego-tiations between senior com-manders of the two armies thatended at 2 am on Wednesday, theIndian delegation also apprisedthe Chinese PLA about the "redlines" and conveyed that the onuswas largely on China to improvethe overall situation in the region,the sources said.

The two sides agreed on cer-tain modalities for rolling out thenext phase of disengagement andare expected to get in touch witheach other after discussing agreedpoints with the higher authori-

ties of both sides, the sources said.The fourth round of Lt

General-level talks began around11 AM on Tuesday at a designat-ed meeting point in Chushul onthe Indian side of the LAC, theysaid. There was no official wordon the outcome of the talks.

The Indian delegation was ledby Lt Gen Harinder Singh, theCommander of the Leh-based 14Corps, while the Chinese sidewas headed by Major GeneralLiu Lin, Commander of theSouth Xinjiang military region.

Army Chief Gen MMNaravane was apprised about thedetails of the negotiations follow-ing which he held discussionswith senior military officers. Heis scheduled to hold anothermeeting with a number of seniormilitary officers later in the day.

Tuesday's discussions werethe longest negotiations betweenthe two armies after the tensestandoff that began on May 5.The third round of Lt General-level talks on June 30 lasted 12hours. During this round, both

sides agreed on an "expeditious,phased and step wise" de-esca-lation as a "priority" to end thestandoff. The sources said themain focus of the latest roundwas on finalising a framework fora "time-bound and verifiable"disengagement process from allthe friction points like PangongTso and Depsang and pullingback large numbers of troops andweapons from rear bases alongthe LAC as part of modalities forfurther de-esalation.

INDIA'S CLEAR MESSAGE TO CHINA

PNS n LUCKNOW

The Congress will moveAllahabad High Court to chal-lenge Uttar Pradesh assemblySpeaker Hriday NarayanDikshit's decision rejecting itsplea to disqualify the party'stwo “rebel” MLAs, Aditi Singhand Rakesh Singh.

“The legal cell of the partyin Delhi is preparing the peti-tion for moving the highcourt,” Congress LegislatureParty leader Aradhana Misratold PTI on Wednesday.

On Speaker's ruling thatthe Congress' plea seeking dis-qualification of its two MLAs“lacked substance and suffi-cient evidence”, Misra said,“There is sufficient groundfor the disqualification of thesetwo MLAs and the party hadpresented it before theSpeaker.”

“The acts and conduct ofthese two MLAs show thatthey want to willingly give upthe membership of the House.Their actions are tantamount

to voluntarily giving up theirmembership (of the Assembly)under the 10th Schedule of theConstitution,” Misra said,adding they have been contin-uously indulging in anti-partyactivities.

Giving an example, she saidAditi Singh participated in thespecial Vidhan Sabha sessionon October 2 last year defyingthe party whip against it.

“She said she did not get thewhip. Even so, when shereached the Vidhan Sabha she

was fully aware that the entireopposition had boycotted thesession. She did not just takepart in the proceedings for fourhours but also spoke in thehouse praising the govern-ment,” Misra said.

Aditi Singh later tweetedremarks which amounted tocriticising the party, the CLPleader said.

About Harchandpur MLARakesh Singh, the CLP leadersaid he publically criticised theparty on several occasions.

Cong to move HC against Speaker'sruling rejecting to disqualify two MLAs

Complaint incourt againstEkta Kapoorover web showPNS n MUMBAI

A criminal complaint has beenfiled against film and televisionproducer Ekta Kapoor beforea magistrate's court here forallegedly disrespecting IndianArmy's uniform in one of herweb series. The complaint wasfiled by former 'Bigg Boss'contestant Vikas Pathak, alsoknown as Hindustani Bhau,before a magistrate's court insuburban Bandra on Tuesday.

The matter has been postedfor hearing on August 24,Pathak's advocate Kashif Khansaid. "My client had filed acomplaint against Ekta Kapoorand others at a local police sta-tion, but no action has beentaken till date, hence we moveda criminal complaint before thecourt," Khan said.

Besides Ekta Kapoor, thecomplaint also names herOTT platform ALTBalaji,Shobha Kapoor andJeetendra Kapoor, he said.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A group of ministers, headedby Home Minister Amit Shah,on Wednesday recommend-ed increasing the minimumselling price (MSP) of sugarby Rs 2 to 33 per kg to ensuremills clear the pending canearrears of around Rs 20,000crore at the earliest, sourcessaid. Finance MinisterNirmala Sitharaman, FoodMinister Ram Vilas Paswan,Agriculture MinisterNarendra Singh Tomar andCommerce Minister PiyushGoyal were present in themeeting. Sources said theGoM took stock of the pend-ing sugarcane dues to be paidby sugar mills which stand ataround Rs 20,000 crore so farin the current 2019-20 season(October-September) andways to ensure mills clear thisat the earliest.

GoM recommendshike in sugarMSP to Rs 33/kg

PNS n NEW DELHI

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwalon Wednesday said the currentCOVID-19 situation in thenational capital is better thanwhat it was in June, but the waragainst the disease has not beenwon yet. He said had the Delhigovernment fought the virusalone, it would have "failed" andtherefore his dispensation soughtcooperation from the BJP-ledCentre, NGOs, and other organ-isations. "Our first principle wasthat this fight cannot be wonalone," Kejriwal said.

The chief minister said theAAP government will continueits preparations to deal with anyspike in COVID-19 cases.

Addressing an online mediabriefing, the chief minister saidaccording to the Centre's formu-

la, Delhi was expected to have2.25 lakh cases by July 15, but atpresent, there are only 1.15 lakhcases. As the COVID-19 caseshad started rising in the firstweek of June, it was expected thatthere would be 1.34 lakh activecases by July 15, but till date,there are only 18,600 activecases in the city.

"We are in better situationtoday, as compared to June, butit does not mean we have wonthe war (against COVID-19). Wehave yet to go a long way. "Theremay be a spike again in COVID-19 cases. We don't have to becomplacent. We will not sit idle.We will have to be fully pre-pared," Kejriwal said.

COVID-19 situation better inDelhi than June says Kejriwal

"There may be aspike again inCOVID-19 cases.We don't have tobe complacent. Wewill not sit idle. Wewill have to be fullyprepared," Kejriwalsaid

Dehing-Patkai national park shouldinclude Amazon of the East: activists

The two sides agreedon certain modalitiesfor rolling out thenext phase ofdisengagement andare expected to getin touch with eachother after discussingagreed points withthe higher authoritiesof both sides, thesources said

India registered a

record single day jump

of 29,429 Covid-19

cases pushing its tally

to 9,36,181 on

Wednesday, while the

death toll climbed to

24,309 with 582 new

fatalities, according to

Health Ministry data

Follow all agreed protocolsfor border management

"I have worked very hard to bring theCongress party back in the govern-ment and defeat the BJP," he said

Prime Minister Narendra Modihad invoked a “special relation-ship”, based on shared culture, lan-guage and religion, with Nepalduring his first official visit to

Kathmandu in 2014. He had said, “This isthe land of Sita and Janak; Nepal-India rela-tions are as old as the Himalayas and theGanga.” Given his proclivity for abbrevia-tions, Modi had coined HIT (Highways, I-Ways and Transways) as the transformation-al formula to strengthen age-old tiesbetween the two nations. Much water hasflown down the rivers Kosi, Gandaki andKarnali (the three big rivers that flow fromNepal to India) and Nepal has instead vest-ed its trust in the Chinese Belt and RoadInitiative (BRI) to usher in the much-need-ed transformation.

Nepalese Prime Minister KP SharmaOli’s speech in New Delhi in 2018 was lessflowery and presciently loaded. Repeatedly,he stressed on a “balanced outlook” in exter-nal relations, an unmistakable euphemismto “correct” the pro-India tilt. Nepal had justemerged from the perceived wounds ofIndia’s braggadocio during the 2015 earth-quake relief operations and the supposedinterferences in the framing of a newConstitution. Agitation over this issue hadled to a crippling “blockade.” In an age ofsocial media, the hurt felt by a proud nation,which has never been ruled by outsiders,was palpable. Murmurs of India’s “bigbrotherly” attitude being unacceptablegained credence in the streets of Nepal.

Oli had alluded to that overarching trustdeficit and sinking sentiment. “Good neigh-bourliness demands harmonious co-exis-tence forever. And trust is the key cement-ing factor. It derives its strength from theobservance of such fundamental principlesas equality, justice, mutual respect and ben-efit as well as non-interference,” said Oli. Headded that for impact, “it is natural to expectsimilar assurance from India.” Clearly, thehealing process never kicked off and today,ties between India and Nepal have reachedan unprecedented low due to border vio-lence, cartographical disputes and trusteroding measures like Nepal’s decision toban the Indian media.

Undoubtedly, there are layered com-plexities of missteps that were taken by bothsides in equal measure. Both nations weredriven by their own domestic political con-siderations, short-termism and geo-politi-cal churns that widened the faultlines, whichalways existed but never flared up to thisextent. The crests and troughs of bilateralrelations were always handled politically,without any unnecessary attribution to thesocietal-ethnicity of the people involved.Today, that venerated “Gurkha” stands to bedangerously demonised as collateral dam-age. The delinking of “politics” and “peo-ple” has not been the strength of the cur-rent dispensation. Deliberate contextuali-sation and binarisation of circumstances

may still yield electoral gratifi-cation but this will come at thecost of alienating almost allneighbouring countries, wellbeyond Pakistan and China.

The intermingling andintermeshing of the Indo-Nepalese people are not just his-torical, cultural, spiritual, reli-gious or even transactional; it isunparalleled in terms of thefaith, trust and reverence that isafforded on the “Gurkha” in theIndian consciousness. Nearly 40dedicated Gurkha Regimentbattalions with approximately40,000 Indian and NepaliGurkha soldiers defend India’ssovereignty. Another one lakhveterans reside in Nepal and theannals of Indian Army’s valourtestify to the raw gallantry of thelikes of Lt Col Dhan SinghThapa, Param Vir Chakra(PVC), among others, whoironically fought the Chinese inthe same area around thePangong Lake.

His citation read, “MajorThapa got out of his trench andkilled several enemies in hand-to-hand fighting before he wasfinally overpowered by Chinesesoldiers.” The proud Gurkhahad stared death in the eye andreturned. Indeed, he was bornin Dharamshala as many otherGurkhas in the region ofDarjeeling Hills or Dehradunbut he was as synonymously aGurkha and an Indian asMahavir Chakra (MVC)awardees like Tika Bahadur

Thapa, Pati Ram Gurung or aPrem Bahadur Gurung.

This unparalleled traditionand saga of sacrifice for India isreciprocated in a similar spiritby all those who chose to iden-tify themselves as Gurkhas. Ina deeply moving sight, a 11-year-old girl shouted theGurkha war-cry on her father’scremation “Tiger 9 GR Ko! HoKi Hoina?” (Col MN Rai, theTiger of 9 Gurkha Regiment, hewas or wasn’t he?) and it wasresponded by a resounding “HoHo Ho” (he was, he was, hewas). The daughter and thenation mourned his loss and yetanother name got etched to thelist of the illustrious Gurkha glo-ries. The inexplicable bond ofthe Indo-Nepalese realityunderwrote that sacred spirit.

The “Gurkha” cannot andshould not be sacrificed at thealtar of partisan politics or thesmallness of spirit that besetsthe times that be. Sadly, the oversimplistic narrative of the daycan easily affix the slant of “anti-national” on anyone owing totheir ethnicities or religion asthe basest instincts are easilyaroused, tolerated and stoked bythe powers-that-be.

Equally, the Nepalese dis-pensation cannot forget histo-ry and independent India’s con-tributions or the essential impli-cations that are imminent inchoosing a China over India asits “bargaining tool.” The peo-ple-to-people connect with

some other neighbouring coun-tries has already been rupturedand irreversibly damaged withthe context of politico-religios-ity. This has done an extremedisservice to some of our own,who axiomatically got associat-ed as “anti-nationals” owing totheir co-religiosity. Ironically,such an ethnic pejoration ontothe identity of the “Gurkha”would be a unique failure. Thisdespite the supposed common-alities of the two realms.

Field Marshal SamManekshaw identified himselfas a proud Gurkha as does thecurrent Chief of Defence Staffor the Chief of Indian ArmyStaff prior to him. In a recipro-cal dignity, the chiefs of botharmies also bestow Honorary“Generalship” of their Armies,mutually. The national leader-ship has to make a concertedeffort to ensure that no unto-ward or over-excitable taint isimplied on the loyalty, fidelityand character of the people ofNepal. Governmental or ideo-logical differences have to behandled separately without gal-vanising societal emotions as itdid with other neighbouringcountries. India must alwaysprotect its sovereign interestsfirmly. It must also recognise thedignity of the “other”, especial-ly one who has bled for Indiaunflinchingly.

(The writer, a military vet-eran, is a former Lt Governor ofAndaman & Nicobar Islands)

India’s traditional relationship with Iran is final-ly being stretched by our strategic closenessto the US and is pushing that nation direct-

ly into the arms of China. And this might costus a project that we had heavily invested in,the Chabahar port. For now, the IranianGovernment has decided to drop India as apartner for the construction of a rail line fromChabahar port to Zahedan, along the borderwith Afghanistan, and go on its own. It will useits own engineers and not consult Indian exper-tise either. This, it claims, is because of India’s

tardy initiative and not moving any funds although an agreement was signed fouryears ago. India has been stalling under the shadow of US sanctions, which seekto penalise countries doing business with Iran. According to reports, Iran, whichwants to complete the line by March 2022, will use $400 million from the IranianNational Development Fund. And despite a pandemic-hit economy, it is going infor massive spends simply because China has signed a 25-year economic andsecurity partnership with it worth $400 billion. This entails Chinese entry in bank-ing, telecommunications, ports, railways and other infrastructure projects. It ful-fils China’s neo-imperialist desires, colonising another economy in the process,and keeps its domestic industries running with cheaper Iranian oil for the next25 years. India, by comparison, has stopped importing Iranian crude oil underUS pressure. The agreement also proposes military cooperation, which couldmake China a key player in regional geopolitics and counter the US.

India has been completely caught off guard by this deal even as it tried var-ious rounds of negotiations with the US to spare it from sanctions for conduct-ing certain businesses with Iran. Though India got exemption for the Chabaharport and the rail link, equipment suppliers feared a hitback and slowed downprogress. Besides, Iran was upset by India’s decision to completely stop ener-gy imports, quite a big basket of its earnings. Now China has assured it of itsoil market, picking up supplies for 25 long years, taking away Iran’s worries.Bilateral ties with Iran nosedived further with the naked display of majoritarianpolitics during the Delhi riots in February with its Foreign Minister Javad Zarif strong-ly condemning them. Now there is talk of a greater Chinese stake, the deal mere-ly an access card to Chabahar’s duty free zone, an oil refinery and the port itself.In fact, though Iran has denied it, there is speculation that it could lease out theentire port to its new benefactor. That would be a big blow to India, which hadhoped to build an alternate trade route from Chabahar to Afghanistan and CentralAsia, bypassing Pakistan. But now with the Chinese reclaiming the vacuum, itwill strengthen the China-Pakistan axis around the coast. The China-PakistanEconomic Corridor (CPEC) and the Gwadar port will strengthen that conduit. Iransays it has not abandoned India, but clearly it has decided to go with the biggestAsian power and the US’ arch enemy on a need-based formula. We may thinkthat we forced China’s hand by retaliating in Galwan but all it did was ensurestrategic calm when world opinion would have isolated it further had it escalat-ed its aggression. As the only country whose growth projections are not nega-tive post-pandemic, it can afford to buy out vulnerable nations. It has alreadyinvested in banks in Brazil. India may be its economic bulwark but China is quick-ly encircling it by winning over our old allies and neighbours. It is no less bel-ligerent, just that it has now launched an economic warfare with India.

On the day Reliance Industries held its firstvirtual annual general meeting, India’slargest and most valuable private enter-

prise announced that search giant Google hasinvested $4.5 billion into Reliance’s Jio plat-forms, the conglomerate’s digital arm. This rais-es the amount that India’s richest man, MukeshAmbani, has raised for Reliance Jio to closeto $20 billion, an impressive feat in the bestof times. But given that the world is sufferinga healthcare meltdown, thanks to theCoronavirus pandemic, this is an extraordinary

feat. In all, Google plans to pump $10 billion over the next five to seven years inthe Indian market to help accelerate the adoption of digital technologies. A flur-ry of deals made in recent times has given the much-needed financial backingto Ambani’s ambition to morph Reliance from an energy company to an e-com-merce giant. Almost all the funds have been raised by American technology firmsand financial institutions. Both Google and Facebook are part of the firm, muchlike its parent Reliance Industries. Jio is trying to become completely verticallyintegrated. It is doing it all — from creating 5G infrastructure at home to man-ufacturing smartphones for users, the creation of software services like Jio Meetas well as expanding Reliance’s huge media play by owning a host of entertain-ment and news channels. The biggest single positive here is that Mukesh Ambani,like his father Dhirubhai Ambani before him, is a believer in India and the capa-bilities of this nation. He plans to build capacity within the country rather thanimport it. This was something made vitally important to every single Indian afterthe fire-breathing Chinese Dragon singed us last month. We can argue ad nau-seam about how China might have lost the Indian market for a couple of gen-erations but nothing speaks like action. While he might not look like it, MukeshAmbani is a man of action. And for all this, he must be applauded.

However, and there’s always a however, the way Reliance has garnered itsfunds and the fact that it is on the verge of becoming a monopolistic venture intelecommunications and technology services with only a couple of rivals — oneof which is almost bankrupt — it does raise some concern. It remains to beseen how Ambani will deploy the funds raised in the Indian market. Will he buyout rivals in the e-commerce and groceries space? Or will every Indian have tomove from one Reliance store to the next, albeit in the guise of other brands,thanks to Reliance retail owning the rights of several multinational brands in India?Or is there another way of looking at it? Should India nurture and raise nationalchampions like Reliance Industries? The old guard of Indian companies couldnot scale enough or be scaled in different areas. As for Reliance, the pivot towardsJio and telecom has been a long time coming. The family feud meant that MukeshAmbani had to wait for a decade and for his brother to mess up to get back intothis space. He is not wasting any time now and his ambitions have scaled upfrom the time he launched Reliance Infocomm. With a clear roadmap for thefuture, his execution capabilities and striking a string of deals, Mukesh Ambanihas proved just how an extremely competitive industry like telecom can yieldstriking returns. He is also securing the future for the Ambani clan for anotherhalf a century and possibly doing more to secure India’s digital future away fromthe Chinese than any other individual.

Digital reliance

Rediscover agri economy

Sir — It should not have taken apandemic for this nation to redis-cover that we are essentially anagrarian economy. Decades of adhoc and knee-jerk policies on agroproduction, storage capacity, dis-tribution and exports were trans-lating into excess grain reservessince 1995. The pity of it all,grains were wasted in shoddywarehouse facilities. Further, anunimaginative distribution andpricing set-up denied their reachto the deserving poor.

On April 1, 2020, stocks in thecentral pool stood at 73.85 MT, thehighest ever, against a reserverequirement of just 21.04 MT. Thisshould help feed the common manfor months now. Pulled up byCOVID-19, we are sure to sustaina new-found respect for this foun-dational sector of our economy.Reserve levels will be scaled up.More modern and efficient stor-age capacities and attendant infra-structure and employment-centricinitiatives will be on the cards.Significantly, procurement duringthis harvest season was promptand harvesting was imaginativelydone by States despite the non-availability of labour. Bureaucracy

must ensure that this singular effi-ciency in decision-making and inowning up to a problem becomesthe new norm to give a fillip torural stakeholders.

Once the thrust reverts to theagro sector, the economy mustshift to the rural epicentre, but-tressed by auxiliary industriessuch as food processing. Post thepandemic, reverse migration of a

huge number of non-residentIndians is imminent and anexpanded rural economy alonecan accommodate the surge. Thepandemic has given us a sharpcue for the dispersal of wealth andconsumption into rural heart-lands as an enduring policy ofinclusive development.

R NarayananNavi Mumbai

Absurd claim

Sir — Nepal Prime Minister KPOli has thrown yet anotherbouncer by claiming that “realAyodhya” is in Nepal and not inIndia. He also claimed that Indiahad created a “fake Ayodhya.”

Of late, Oli has been in thenews for all the wrong reasons.

He issued a “new” map of Nepal,claiming Kalapani, Lipulekh andLimpiyadhura as its territory.Oli’s communist Government inNepal is also playing into thehands of China, which has report-edly taken away 33 hectares ofland from it. But all of this has notbothered Oli, who is also facinggrowing discontent back homefor “junking India” and “joiningChina.” One just hopes that tem-porary developments and flash-points do not hamper the uniquerelations both nations share.

KV Seetharamaiah Hassan

Mutual benefit

Sir — The Google initiative topump `75,000 crore for digitalIndia initiative will benefit Indiain the long-term. For Google,too, this is an effort to tap thehuge opportunity in a countrywhose mass market has only justbegun to go online. This step willalso fill the void created by thebanning of Chinese applications.

SudhirVia email

P A P E R W I T H P A S S I O N

www.dailypioneer.comfacebook.com/dailypioneer | @TheDailyPioneer | instagram.com/dailypioneer/

op nionHYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020

06

Save the common spirit

BHOPINDER SINGH

The Gurkhas cannot and should not be sacrificed at the altar of partisan politics or the

smallness of spirit that besets present times because of Indo-Nepalese differences

India’s global strategy is intatters. We are losingpower and respect everywhere and theGovernment of India hasno idea what to do.

Congress leader—Rahul Gandhi

Covid is not going away any-time soon, so it’s imperativethat we adjust our expecta-tions of what’s considered‘normal’ to include these basicbut crucial precautions.

Actor—Anil Kapoor

I’m not interested right nowin talking to China. We madea great trade deal. But assoon as the deal was done,the ink wasn’t even dry andthey hit us with the plague.

US President—Donald Trump

S O U N D B I T E

L E T T E R S T O TT H E E D I T O R

Pilot’s revolt should pave way for Congress 2.0

This refers to the editorial, “Pilot sacked” (July 15).The revolt of Sachin Pilot, who was dismissed fromevery office he held in Rajasthan, is a golden oppor-

tunity for the rejuvenation of a secular front against theruling BJP. This should include immediate holding of longoverdue internal elections for a new Congress presidentoutside the Gandhi fold, followed by a radical overhaulof the party. Alternatively, he could float a regional party,which along with other breakaway factions of theCongress, namely, the Trinamool Congress, theNationalist Congress Party and YRS Congress couldmerge into a Congress 2.0. This grouping, covering athird of the country’s electorate, would embolden morecapable Congressmen to join the ranks and render theGandhi-led Congress 1.0 version obsolete.

Thankfully, Pilot has chosen not to follow the foot-steps of Jyotiraditya Scindia to join the BJP. Had thisbeen the case, it would have earned Congress leaderRahul Gandhi more sympathy and would have come toboost his image as a champion of the secular ideology

that he certainly does not deserve. Moreover, even fromPilot’s personal standpoint, the grass is not greener onthe other side. Rajasthan is a BJP bastion and he musthave realised that there are a host of well-entrenchedleaders already ahead of him in the queue.

SB BhaleraoMumbai

THE NATIONALLEADERSHIP HAS

TO MAKE ACONCERTED

EFFORT TOENSURE THAT NO

UNTOWARD OROVER-EXCITABLETAINT IS IMPLIEDON THE LOYALTY,

FIDELITY ANDCHARACTER OFTHE PEOPLE OF

NEPAL.GOVERNMENTALOR IDEOLOGICAL

DIFFERENCESHAVE TO BE

HANDLEDSEPARATELY

Send yyour ffeedback tto:letterstopioneer@gmail.com

Trouble in Chabahar

My favourite batting partneris Mahi bhai (MS Dhoni) butit’s rare that I get a chance tobat with him. If he’s (Dhoni)out there batting with you,things remain sorted.

Cricketer—Rishabh Pant

Raising funds in the midst of a pandemic is no joke. MukeshAmbani should be applauded but is his nervousness justified?

Iran drops India from Chabahar port rail project as Chinaseals a new economic and security deal worth $400 billion

Beware of an injured Xi

TILL NOW WE HAVE REMAINED UNDER THE BELIEF THAT

RAM, THE MAN SITA MARRIED, WAS AN INDIAN... HE

WAS NOT, HE WAS A NEPALI.

—NEPAL PRIME MINISTER

KP SHARMA OLI

EVEN IN INDIA LEFT PARTIES PLAYED WITH PEOPLE'S

FAITH. THE COMMUNISTS IN NEPAL WILL BE REJECTED

BY THE MASSES LIKE THEY HAVE BEEN HERE.

—BJP NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON

BIZAY SONKAR SHASTRI

POINTCOUNTERPOINT

President Xi Jinping’s ambition to make Chinaan undisputed global superpower has changedthe entire geo-political dynamics. The phe-

nomenal rise of Xi has made China more aggres-sive. He has emerged as the most powerful leaderof China after Mao Zedong. Born in a politically-influential family in 1953, he witnessed the Mao eraclosely and saw the ruthless face of Zedong whenhis father was purged and jailed during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution. Though his father was reha-bilitated after the death of Mao, these events left along-lasting impression on his mind which got fur-ther hardened during Xi’s initial struggle within theCommunist Party which he joined in 1974. He spentdecades working his way up the party andGovernment ranks but his consolidation of powersince becoming General Secretary, the head of theparty, in 2012 has been unprecedented. In 2013, healso became the President of the Peoples’ Republicof China (PRC), thus assuming charge of all thethree most-coveted posts in the party andGovernment. He represents the new generation ofChinese because he is the first General Secretaryborn after the establishment of the PRC. Xi todayis the President of PRC without term limits.Incidentally, he now has 12 posts that give him con-trol and oversight over most areas of Government,the economy and military. Xi, therefore, is the mostauthoritarian world leader today, who is ruthlesswith any form of opposition to him at home andvisualises himself as a potential supreme leader ofthe world.

It goes to the credit of Xi that during his tenureChina has grown economically and militarily. Chinasurpassed Japan to become the second-largest econ-omy in the world and global manufacturing hub.He effected a large-scale purge in the military brassto end corruption in the People’s Liberation Army(PLA). This was followed by structural reforms tomake PLA a lean and modern fighting force withemphasis on mastering the three domains ofcyber world, space and information.

Xi proved to be a leader who can rise to chal-lenges. But his bitter experience during the CulturalRevolution has made him an authoritarian man whodoes not trust anyone. He abhors challenge to hisauthority or to his “Chinese Dream” of national reju-venation. Thus, he has crushed dissent in HongKong, Xinjiang and Tibet. In pursuance of hisMiddle Kingdom ambition, he has refused to acceptinternational laws and treaties and persisted withexpansionist designs in the South China Sea(SCS), East China Sea (ECS) while continuing withsalami-slicing in the neighbourhood to includeIndia, Nepal and Bhutan. His ambition to be a glob-al leader has led to a no holds barred conflict withthe sole superpower, the US. Xi is convinced thatthe main rival of China is the US and all others aremere pushovers and that has determined hisbehaviour and actions as far as the disputes in theSCS, the Sino-India border and disputes with SouthKorea, Japan and Taiwan are concerned.

All was going well for Xi till the outbreak of theCoronavirus. The ongoing trade war with the USwas also tilted in his favour till the pandemic spreadacross the world with its roots in China. All of a sud-den Xi was being attacked globally as well as domes-tically. The strong Chinese economy began to showsigns of crumbling. The demand for closing facto-ries in China and relocating them grew louder bythe day. India was being considered a probable alter-native. The US seized the opportunity and led theglobal offensive against China, accusing Xi of delib-erately delaying the information regarding the out-break. The global economy was in the doldrumswith nations resorting to prolonged lockdowns andmost countries blaming China for the contagion.

Xi’s dream of the 21st century belonging toChina began to crumble gradually. His plan of end-

ing poverty in China by 2020 suffered thebiggest setback and it emerged as histoughest year. Xi’s unchallenged status athome came under threat and in order todivert attention he began to pursue anaggressive policy to portray Chinesesupremacy. He let loose his “wolf warrior”diplomats to counter the global diplomat-ic and political onslaught. Simultaneously,he began to flex muscles in the SCS andECS. He started the process of gainingcomplete control over Hong Kong,denouncing the “One Nation TwoSystems” promise. The regime change inTaiwan, too, annoyed Xi. He began tobehave like a medieval king eager toextend frontiers and win glory.

Challenging India in the trans-Himalayan icy battlefield was meant toteach New Delhi a lesson for challengingthe Chinese ownership of Aksai Chin.China was convinced that New Delhiwould not challenge its occupation ofAksai Chin till the Indian Home Ministerroared in the Parliament that his referenceto Ladakh included Gilgit-Baltistan andAksai Chin. It rattled Beijing more thanPakistan because it could afford to loseneither of the two.

Despite China’s denial, the worldcommunity noted with concern the sink-ing of Vietnamese fishing boats in the SCS,the unilateral decision to name newChinese districts in the area, sanctionsagainst Australia, browbeating of Japan inthe ECS, unilateral actions in HongKong, Ladakh incursions, manipulationof Nepal, claims on the Sakteng WildlifeSanctuary in Eastern Bhutan and on theSiberian town of Vladivostok.

Buoyed by the passive response ofother nations, Xi ventured to provokeIndia at Galwan Heights expecting meeksubmission. But the brawl at those icyheights on the night of June 15 not onlytook the Chinese by surprise but also putthe fear of God in its soldiers about thefighting prowess of Indian soldiers. TheChinese plan to teach India a lesson notonly backfired but the Galwan face-offproved to be a turning point, which maywell turn out to be a reason for renewedvengeance. The global communityacknowledged India standing up to thebully and paying him back in the samecoin. India followed it up with an econom-

ic offensive as well. The changed scenariohad a ripple effect. China’s victims realisedthat the dragon could be held off.

ASEAN nations for the first timespoke in unison, asking China to followinternational laws on maritime bound-aries. Japan reacted offensively by deploy-ing near the disputed islands, Bhutanvehemently asserted its claim over SaktengWildlife Sanctuary and refused to becowed down, Russia agreed to fast trackarms supplies to India, the US movedthree aircraft carriers in the SCS, Australiarefused to take Chinese students andbroke trade ties with it.

The Chinese economy, too, suffereda big blow, putting greater pressure on Xi.Following the Indian ban of 59 Chineseapps, cancellation of contracts signed withChinese companies in the telecom, con-struction and MSME sectors and thegrowing demand for boycott of Chinesegoods, other nations, too, began to banChinese technology firms. Chinese giantHuawei has been the biggest sufferer.Similarly, the dream project of Xi, the BeltRoad Initiative (BRI), has come undersevere strain with many countries eitherabandoning various projects or demand-ing a review of their loan agreements.

The list of Xi’s woes is growing by theday. China had become an economicsuperpower by the time Xi took power buthis critics now blame him for leading thecountry to ruin due to his aggressive,expansionist policies and ambition.

After aggressive posturing followingthe Galwan face-off, China has nowagreed to a negotiated settlement on theborder so that he doesn’t lose the waragainst the international community aswell. India and China agreed that differ-ences should not become disputes after atelephonic discussion between the IndianNational Security Advisor and the ChineseForeign Minister.

Though China has agreed to a phaseddisengagement and de-escalation, there isa big trust deficit between the two armiesnow. The overwhelming opinion in Indiais that disengagement is not enough inorder to end tensions on the Line of ActualControl (LAC). They advocate no de-esca-lation until full return of status quo. WhileXi would fight his own battle for survival,we have to ensure that it is not yet anoth-

er Chinese trap.History tells us that China is untrust-

worthy. Be it 1962, Sumdrong Chu,Depsang or Doklam. This time, too, weare not yet sure if the Chinese move is atactical retreat in order to achieve its big-ger strategic aim. Hence, India should notbe lulled into complacence. History tellsus that our political leadership has failedto understand the insurance provided toa nation’s growth economically and diplo-matically by strong security forces. Hence,payment of annual premium to ensurethat the insurance does not lapse ismandatory. The nation has to be preparedto ward off physical threats to its bordersand also those in the cyber world, spaceand the information highways.

India must not let its guard down onthe borders along the Line of Control(LoC) and the LAC. At the same time allactions taken to supplement the armouryof the three services should not be halt-ed but put on fast track to ensure that ifthe dragon dares to threaten us again, itis taught a lesson forever. If needed, weshould be prepared to stay put even dur-ing the harsh winters, for which logisticsand catering preparations have to beginforthwith.

Economic strangulation of Chinashould continue while at the same timeencouraging friendly nations to do thesame. On the diplomatic front, apart fromconsolidating Chinese isolation due to thepandemic, India should also considerdenouncing Beijing’s One Nation Policyand leverage numerous fault lines in Chinaby exposing its high-handedness in grab-bing the territories in its periphery. FreeTibet movement should be given an impe-tus in India. The democratic movementsin Hong Kong and Taiwan need strongerIndian support.

If Xi is able to overcome the domes-tic challenges he faces now, he wouldemerge a dictator. India, therefore, has tobe prepared for a probability of reoccur-rence of Chinese aggression on its borders.We have to emerge as China’s equal.Beijing will try its level best to lull us intocomplacency, it would be suicidal if we fallinto China’s trap again.

(The author is a Jammu-based veter-an, political commentator and security ana-lyst)

If Jinping is able to overcome the domestic challenges he faces now, he would emerge a dictator.India, therefore, has to be prepared for a probability of re-occurrence of aggression on its borders

analysis 07F I R S T C O L U M N

KOTA SRIRAJ

ECONOMICSTRANGULATION OF

CHINA SHOULDCONTINUE WHILE AT

THE SAME TIMEENCOURAGING

FRIENDLY NATIONSTO DO THE SAME.

ON THE DIPLOMATICFRONT, APART FROM

CONSOLIDATINGCHINESE ISOLATION

DUE TO THEPANDEMIC, INDIA

SHOULD ALSOCONSIDER

DENOUNCINGBEIJING’S

ONE NATION POLICYAND LEVERAGE

NUMEROUS FAULTLINES IN CHINA BY

EXPOSING ITS HIGH-HANDEDNESS

IN GRABBING THETERRITORIES IN ITS

PERIPHERY. FREETIBET MOVEMENTSHOULD BE GIVEN

AN IMPETUS ININDIA. THE

DEMOCRATICMOVEMENTS IN

HONG KONG ANDTAIWAN NEED

STRONGER INDIANSUPPORT

The Coronavirus pandemic has not only killed lakhs of peopleworldwide, it has sickened the global economy, too, as nationshave been forced to shut down their industries and business-

es in order to stem the spread of the contagion. India, with its9,39,192 Coronavirus cases and 24,327 casualties is no excep-tion to this need to hunker down. And the country, which had begunto open up in a phased manner after an extended, hard lockdown,is being forced to impose brief shutdowns again. Naturally, this COVID-19 chokehold over the economy has put developmental projects,industry, trade and business in a coma and impacted thousandsof lives and livelihoods.

The worst affected of the lot have been the migrant workersof the nation, who are rightly considered the silent contributors todevelopment. The labour community, who at the best of times isneither appreciated enough nor remunerated fairly, continued to suf-fer even more badly during the COVID-19 lockdown. This was trag-ically epitomised by the horrid accident in Aurangabad where unem-ployed, exhausted and broke labourers walking back home weremowed down by a train after they went off to sleep on the tracks.The incident had sparked off a nationwide outrage and sense ofgrief for the sufferings of the workers in the informal economy.

Now, with the country slowly opening up, despite the Coronaviruscases skyrocketing, the very same labourers are being coaxed tocome back from their villages and get the wheels of the economymoving again. That brings us to the fact that no matter what hap-pens, even during a pandemic, an economy cannot be stopped inits tracks, it has to keep ticking. The economy is given precedenceover everything, and this includes the environment, which is theproverbial poor cousin.

But in this bid to restart the economy, India is probably com-mitting the same mistake all over again by making trade, businessand industry a priority and putting the environment and ecologicalconcerns on the back-burner. Unfortunately, this lopsided agendaof promoting economic development at the cost of the environmenthas heightened the risk of more pandemics such as the COVID-19occurring frequently in future. In a stark but positive contrast, thisaspect has been understood by the western world whose nationsare quickly scrambling to cover their ecological deficiencies andenvironmental weak spots by ensuring that their economic devel-opment projects have a robust environmental compassion built in.

So, given these circumstances, it is natural to expect the Ministryof Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to get intoan overdrive and release a slew of measures that would herald thesafeguarding of the environment in the current, COVID- 19-stressedconditions. But this is not the case. Curiously, the Minister in chargefor MoEFCC also happens to be in charge of the portfolio for HeavyIndustries and Public Enterprises. In any other environmentally-con-scious nation, this would have been perceived as a conflict of inter-est. But not in India. This anomaly notwithstanding, the MoEFCCrecently went on a project clearance spree in 11 States.

These rapid clearances of projects in order to promote indus-tries are proving to be a death knell for the environment. The MoEFCC,for instance, cleared a railway line in Telangana that cuts through168 hectares of a prime forest, which also happens to be a tigerreserve. In this case, the Government could have considered anelevated track to spare the trees but this was obviously not done.The Etalin Hydropower project in Arunanchal Pradesh’s Dibang Valleyis yet another example of sheer indifference towards the environ-ment. The project entails the diversion of 1,150 hectares of forestland that will cause the felling of a whopping 2,70,000 trees.

This kind of ruin of nature cannot be justified at all, no matterwhat the gains are. Numerous representations from environmen-tal activists and scientists have been able to stall the final approvalof the project, but it is surprising how the project was conceivedin the first place, given the scale of environmental destruction. Inthe midst of baffling examples such as these is yet another instanceof environmental neglect. This is the proposed hydel project inUttarakhand that involves compromising 768 acres of forest land.

The Government must realise that the environment cannot bepawned off for industrial gains. Repeated announcements of pro-jects that threaten the environment will keep inviting representationsfrom the environmental and scientific community to roll back theseprojects. Parallely, the nation will slowly but surely understand theapathy of the Government towards the environment and this willbe the end of the trust people have in the Government. This kindof knee-jerk conception and approval of projects with utter disre-gard for the environment is detrimental to national interests and can-not be allowed to proliferate.

As a first step to stem this, the Government must ensure thatthe environment and heavy industries ministries are not represent-ed by the same person. This will ensure that there is no conflict ofinterest and decisions taken in one Ministry will not result in col-lateral damage for the other. The current trying times are a greatopportunity for India to reaffirm its commitment towards the envi-ronment and this must be shown through actions rather than words.This can be done only by effectively balancing the ecology with theeconomy.

(The writer is an environmental journalist)

The nation has been in lockdownmode for more than fourmonths now and has only just

started opening up. Hospitals, researchand development (R&D) institutionsare trying their best to bring out a vac-cine for the Coronavirus. In fact,human trials for the vaccine havebegun in India. We have seen manyreports that have said that there hasbeen a decline in the number of peo-ple opting for surgeries, especially low

and medium-risk patients. A lot of patients, who had surg-

eries scheduled, have postponed themand are avoiding hospital visits forroutine checkups as they fear beingexposed to the Coronavirus. Therehave been reports of people losingtheir lives due to a heart attack orstroke. Even though they had priorsymptoms of heart disease, they didnot venture out due to the fear ofCOVID-19.

It is extremely important for car-diac patients and people with heartconditions to take care of their healthin such testing times, especially asthere are a lot of restrictions on accessto various facilities.

Exercising, maintaining a prop-er diet and taking the prescribed car-diac medication or anti-diabetes med-icine are all very important for

patients, since these are the co-mor-bid conditions which make theCOVID-19 infection serious as thecardiac/diabetes patients are alreadyimmuno-compromised. With thatsaid, it is also impossible for high-riskpatients with severe heart conditionsto not opt for surgeries. When it isabsolutely essential depending onthe conditions, patients might have toundergo surgery.

The need to safeguard themselvesand their patients has prompted mostsurgeons to develop their own proto-cols to tide over the pandemic situa-tion. The decision for surgical careshould be based on the doctor’s ownsurgical and clinical judgment andassessment of resource availability.Patients should get the surgical carebased on practice of evidence-basedmedicine. A non-operative line of

management is advised when it is clin-ically appropriate for patients, special-ly looking at risk and benefits ofsurgery.

Heart surgeries are arduous andlong procedures that take a toll onpatients physically and mentally.Open-heart surgeries are back break-ingly expensive and procedures last fordays. Since the surgical team has to becareful not to get infection, all the pre-cautionary measures that are beingpractised are also the most rigorousfor the surgical team. Apart from that,in the COVID-19 era, there is a direneed for minimum contact which isonly possible through minimally-invasive surgical techniques.Minimally invasive surgery improvesshort-term outcomes in patients andit is associated with a faster recoveryin comparison with the traditional

approach. If a patient needs valvereplacement, then a trans catheter aor-tic valve replacement is an alternative,but the long-lasting results of thesevalves are still questionable. There isa certain amount of industry drive tomake these procedures popular with-out really knowing the long- termresults. I am sure that there are car-diologists who will object to this con-tention. But this remark is onlybecause of the fact that I am one of thefew surgeons in this country who hasbeen replacing valves (single, doubleor treble since 1975) and hence I haveexperienced the long-term results ofconventional valve replacement.

Currently these valves are high-ly expensive in India, going up to`22.5 lakh, owing to which this tech-nology is not available for commonIndians. Even the cost of convention-

al valve replacement, that is between`2.5 to `3 lakh, is not affordable forthe common man. The solution forthis dilemma is indigenisation. Somehospitals in the country have been inthe forefront of bringing about indi-genisation in Transcatheter AorticValve Implantation (TAVI) alongwith the National AeronauticalLaboratory and Council of Scientificand Industrial Research, using Nitinolstents. The valve material used isbovine jugular veins which is after alla waste. This could be a classic exam-ple of “waste to wealth, but unfortu-nately, there has been no support fromany Central Government agenciessuch as the Department ofBiotechnology, the Department ofScience and Technology or any reg-ulatory bodies.

Children with congenital heart

disease or structural heart diseaseundergo multiple heart surgeries intheir lifetime. Of course, closing a holein the heart through the Transcatheterroute is available. Most of thesepatients who have these “corrections”can go home within 24 hours.

This reduces their risk of catch-ing infection, which is vital in theCOVID-19 era. This also means morebeds will be available for electivepatients who need such therapy,which does not need long-term hos-pitalisation. It is not the technologyalone but the logistics, the patient’scomfort and affordability of the pro-cedure that are also important.

(The writer is a Padma Sriawardee and cardiothoracic surgeoncredited with India’s first bypass. He isChairman and CEO of Frontier LifelineHospital)

Minimally invasive surgery best in Corona eraSuch procedures improve short-term outcomes in heart patients and are associated with a faster recovery in comparison with the traditional approach

KM CHERIAN

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020

www.dailypioneer.com

ANIL GUPTA

Balance ecologyand economy

The rapid clearances of projects in order topromote industries are proving to be a

death knell for the environment

HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020 money 08

CAPSULE

Bandhan profit falls31.6 pc to Rs 550crin April-JuneKOLKATA: Bandhan Bank onWednesday reported a 31.6-percent on-year decline in netprofit to Rs 550 crore duringthe April-June quarter. Thelender's bottomline in thecorresponding period ayear ago was Rs 804 crore. ABandhan Bank statement said ithas taken acceleratedadditional provision onstandard assets amounting toRs 750 crore, due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. Operatingprofit during the quarter grewby 16.8 per cent to Rs 1,584crore as against Rs 1,356 crorea year ago. The lender'sdeposits grew by 6.18 per centquarter-on-quarter, thestatement added.

Rupee jumps 27paise to close at75.15 against USDMUMBAI: The rupeeappreciated 27 paise to settle at75.15 (provisional) against theUS dollar on Wednesdaytracking weakness in thegreenback and gains in thedomestic equity market. Forextraders said investor sentimentstrengthened after the humanclinical trials for COVID-19vaccine were initiated in India.The rupee opened at 75.35against the US dollar, thengained further ground andfinally settled at 75.15 againstthe US dollar, up 27 paise overits previous close. It had settledat 75.42 against the greenbackon Tuesday. During the four-hour trading session, thedomestic unit witnessed anintra-day high of 75.14 and alow of 75.36 against the USdollar.

Arisaig Fund trimsstake in FutureConsumer by 2 pc

Titan expectsbusinesses to be hit‘very substantially'NEW DELHI: Watch andjewellery maker TitanCompany is expecting itsbusinesses to be hit "verysubstantially" in the currentfinancial year due todisruptions caused by COVID-19 pandemic. The companysaid its focus during 2020-21will be on cash flows andoptimising spends to ensureliquidity. "The lockdownnecessitated by the COVID-19pandemic is expected to hitthe company's businessesvery substantially in thefinancial year 2020-21.

NEW DELHI: Arisaig IndiaFund Ltd has cut its stake inFuture Consumer by 2 percent by selling 3.84 croreshares in the open market.According to a BSE filing,Arisaig India Fund offloaded3.84 crore shares, or 2 percent stake, on July 13. Basedon the weighted average priceof the stock at Rs 11.63 perscrip on July 13, Arisaig IndiaFund's stake sale would be foran estimated value of Rs44.65 crore. Arisaig India Funddecreased its shareholding inthe company from 5.16 percent to 3.16 per cent. Lastweek, Future Consumer Ltdreported a consolidated netloss of Rs 175.46 crore for thequarter ended March 2020.

IDBI Bank plans to raise Rs 11,000 cr equity capitalPNS n NEW DELHI

Private lender IDBI Bank willraise up to Rs 11,000 croreequity capital through variousmodes, including a qualifiedinstitutional placement (QIP),in about a year to strengthenits capital base, the bank saidon Wednesday.

The lender will seekapproval from sharehold-ers for the proposal inthe upcoming annu-al general meeting(AGM) on August17, 2020, the banksaid in a regulatoryfiling.

IDBI Bank isrequired to maintainits Tier I capital in accor-dance with the relevant regu-latory guidelines issued fromtime to time. In view of ongo-ing implementation of Basel IIInorms and consequential cap-ital charge, there is a need toincrease the capital to furtherstrengthen the CapitalAdequacy Ratio, it said.

IDBI Bank said it will seekconsent of shareholders in theAGM to offer, issue and allotsuch number of equity sharesof the face value of Rs 10 eachand aggregating up to Rs11,000 crore, in one or moretranches.

The issuance of shares willbe including but not limited toone or more of the existings h are h o l d e r s / m e mb e r s ,employees of the bank, QIBsby way of public issue, rights

issue or private placement, itadded.

The AGM will be heldthrough audio/video meansin view of the pandemic, thebank said.

‘Deal with Saudi Aramco notprogressed as per timelines’PNS n MUMBAI

Asia's richest man MukeshAmbani on Wednesday saidhis group's planned stake salein oil-to-chemical business toSaudi Aramco for an asking ofUSD 15 billion has not pro-gressed as per original time-lines due to COVID-19.

"We value our two-decaderelationship with Aramco andare committed to a long-termpartnership," Ambani said atReliance Industries' annualgeneral meeting.

He, however, did not say ifthe deal was on track or give anew timeline for its comple-tion.

"Deal with Saudi Aramcohasn't progressed per originaltimeline due to unforeseensituation in the energy marketand COVID-19 situation," hesaid.

Reliance will be spinning offthe oil-to-chemical (O2C)business into a separate sub-sidiary "to facilitate multiplepartnership opportunities," hesaid.

"We expect to complete thisprocess by early 2021," he said.

Ambani in August last yearhad announced talks for sale of20 per cent stake in the O2Cbusiness, which comprises ofRIL's twin oil refineries atJamnagar in Gujarat and petro-chemical assets, to the world'slargest oil exporter, SaudiAramco.

"Reliance is working to com-plete the contours of a strate-gic partnership with SaudiAramco," Ambani said.

The partnership withAramco would give Jamnagarrefineries "access to a wideportfolio of value-accretivecrude grades and enhancedfeedstock security for higheroil-to-chemicals conversion,"he had said in the annualreport. With a stake, Aramcowould not just have a share inone of the world's best refiner-ies and the largest integratedpetrochemical complex butalso access to one of the fastest-growing markets — a ready-made market for 5 lakh barrelsper day of its Arabian crudeand offering a potentially big-ger downstream role in future.

‘Group receivedstrong interestfrom strategicinvestors’

Richest Indian MukeshAmbani on Wednesday

said his group's retail venturehas received strong interestfrom strategic and financialinvestors.

"We will induct global part-ners and investors in RelianceRetail in the next few quar-ters," he said at RelianceIndustries annual generalmeeting.

Reliance Retail has alreadystarted pilots of its ecom-merce venture. "We have suc-cessfully piloted JioMart gro-cery model with kirana part-ners. The beta version ofJioMart grocery platform isbeing piloted in 200 cities.Daily orders have crossed 2.5lakh, and the number is grow-ing each day," Ambani said.

Connecting farmers anddelivering their fresh producedirectly to homes is a key partof the firm's grocery strategy."This will signif icantlyimprove farmer income andincentivise higher productiv-ity," he said.

More than two-thirds ofReliance Retails' nearly 12,000stores are operated in Tier II,Tier III and Tier IV towns. "Itsources over 80 per cent offruits and vegetable directlyfrom farmers," he said.

Jio developing homegrown5G telecom solution Richest Indian Mukesh

Ambani on Wednesdayannounced his group's digi-tal arm Jio developing ahomegrown 5G telecom solu-tion.

"Jio has designed anddeveloped a complete 5Gsolution from scratch. It willbe ready for trials as soon as5G spectrum is available andcan be ready for field deploy-ment next year," Ambani saidat Reliance Industries' annu-al general meeting.

Jio's global-scale 4G andfibre network is powered byseveral core software tech-nologies and components."It is this capability and know-how that positions Jio on thecutting edge of another excit-ing frontier – 5G," he said.

Jio Platforms, with over 20startup partners, has builtworld-class capabilities intechnologies such as 4G, 5G,Cloud computing, Devicesand OS, Big Data, AI, AR/VR,Blockchain, he said.

"Using these technologies,we can create compellingsolutions across multipleindustry verticals like media,financial services, new com-merce, education, healthcare,agri, smart cities & smartmobility," he said, adding JioPlatforms is conceived withvision of developing original,captive intellectual property,using which we can demon-strate transformative power oftechnology across multipleecosystems – first in India,and then rest of world.

Richest Indian MukeshAmbani on Wednesday

said India's first cloud-basedvideo conferencing appJioMeet has seen 5 milliondownloads within days of itslaunch.

Reliance Industries earlierthis week launched JioMeetvideo conferencing app withunlimited free calling, which isbeing seen as rate war on rivalZoom. JioMeet video confer-encing app is available across

Android, iOS, Windows,macOS and web.

Addressing the company's43rd annual general meeting,Ambani said JioMeet has seen5 million downloads by users

within days of its launch.According to the company

website, JioMeet supports HDaudio and video call qualitywith up to 100 participants andoffers features like screen shar-ing, and meeting schedule fea-ture, among others.

But unlike Zoom, it does notimpose a 40-minute time limit.Calls can go on as long as 24hours, and all meetings areencrypted and password-pro-tected, the company said.

Top CEOs discuss ways to boost investment opportunitiesPNS n NEW DELHI

Top CEOs of India and the USon Tuesday discussed ways toboost bilateral investments insectors such as healthcare,aerospace, defence, infrastruc-ture, ICT, and financial ser-vices, according to a com-merce ministry statement.

The discussion took placeduring the the India-US CEOForum through a telephonicconference. The forum wasco-chaired by Tata SonsChairman N Chandrasekaranand James Taiclet, Presidentand Chief Executive Officer,

Lockheed Martin.Chandrasekaran highlighted

the need for a "free trade agree-ment" as a natural progression

and urged the US governmentto recognize the contribution ofIndia's human capital to the USeconomy, and the need forunhindered cross-bordermobility of such talent, it saidon Wednesday.

Last month, US PresidentDonald Trump issued a presi-

dential proclamation to blockthe entry of foreign workers forthe rest of the year on H-1Bvisas for skilled employees,and L visas for managers andspecialized workers beingtransferred within a company.

On the other hand, Taiclethighlighted the areas of unre-

stricted foreign ownership incertain sectors, policy stability,predictability, timely disputeresolution, protection of intel-lectual property and continu-ing investment in infrastruc-ture as some of the key focusareas. He also hoped that thecooperation between the twocountries during the COVID-19 pandemic would continuein areas of building infrastruc-ture, increasing bilateral invest-ments, and generating jobs.

This is the fifth time theforum has been convened sinceits reconstitution in December2014 by India and the US.

PNS n NEW DELHI

A group of ministers,headed by HomeMinister Amit Shah, onWednesday recom-mended increasing theminimum selling price(MSP) of sugar by Rs 2 to33 per kg to ensure mills clearthe pending cane arrears ofaround Rs 20,000 crore at theearliest, sources said.

Finance Minister NirmalaSitharaman, Food MinisterRam Vilas Paswan, AgricultureMinister Narendra SinghTomar and CommerceMinister Piyush Goyal werepresent in the meeting.

Sources said the GoM tookstock of the pending sugarcanedues to be paid by sugar mills

which stand at around Rs20,000 crore so far in the cur-rent 2019-20 season (October-September) and ways to ensuremills clear this at the earliest.

One of the proposals dis-cussed was to increase theminimum selling price (MSP)of sugar.

The GoM directed the FoodMinistry to move a Cabinetnote with a proposal to hikethe MSP of sugar as recom-mended by the Niti Aayog, the

sources said. The government will

consider other options ifan increase in MSP ofsugar does not help inreducing substantialcane arrears to farmers,the sources added.

A task force constitut-ed by Niti Aayog on sug-

arcane and sugar industry hadalso recommended a one-timeincrease of Rs 2 per kg in MSPof sugar.

Last year, the governmenthad increased the price atwhich mills sell sugar to bulkbuyers by Rs 2/kg to Rs 31/kg.

The minimum selling priceof sugar is fixed taking intoaccount the components ofFRP and minimum conver-sion cost of the most efficientmills.

Google has agreed to investRs 33,737 crore to buy a

7.7 per cent stake in RelianceIndustries' technology ven-ture, adding to a slew of invest-ments since April that hascrossed Rs 1.52 lakh crore.

California-based AlphabetInc joins Facebook Inc, whichopened the investment cycle inJio Platforms by picking 9.99

per cent stake for Rs43,573.62 crore, aswell as chipmakerIntel Corp andQualcomm Inc.

"We aredelighted to wel-come Google as astrategic investor inJio Platforms. We havesigned a binding partnership

and an investment agree-ment under whichGoogle will invest Rs33,737 crores for a 7.7per cent stake in JioPlatforms," RILChairman Mukesh

Ambani said at thecompany's annual gener-

al meeting.With Google coming on

board, Reliance has completedits target of capital raising forJio Platforms, he said.

With this deal, Reliance hassold 32.84 per cent stake in JioPlatforms Ltd - the unit thathouses India's youngest butlargest telecom firm JioInfocomm and apps. In total,Jio has raised Rs 1,52,055.45crore.

Google picks 7.7 pc stake in Jio for Rs 33,373 cr

JioMeet sees 5 million downloads

ADB appointsEC AshokLavasa as newvice-presidentPNS n NEW DELHI

Multilateral funding agencyAsian Development Bank(ADB) on Wednesday said ithas appointed ElectionCommissioner Ashok Lavasaas vice-president for privatesector operations and public-private partnerships.

"He is currently one of theElection Commissioners ofIndia and previously servedin a range of senior postsincluding as Union FinanceSecretary of India; UnionSecretary for the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forests, andClimate Change; and UnionSecretary for the Ministry ofCivil Aviation," ADB said ina statement. Lavasa will suc-ceed Diwakar Gupta, whoseterm will end on August 31.

IDBI Bank would endeav-our to come out of the

RBI's restrictive PromptCorrective Action

(PCA) frame-work as early

as possibleduring thecurrent fis-cal byimprovingits financial

health, a topbank official has

said.The Reserve Bank in

May 2017 had placed theIDBI Bank in the PCAframework because of thedeterioration in the financialhealth of the bank.

The PCA frameworkimposes various operationalrestrictions on a bank to

ensure that the lenderremains solvent.

One of the thrust areas ofthe bank's strategic endeav-ours has been to expedi-tiously exit the PromptCorrective Action (PCA)framework, imposed on itsince May 2017, by dint of itsperformance, IDBI Bankmanaging director and CEORakesh Sharma said in a let-ter to the shareholders.

"Your Bank is cautiouslyoptimistic of an early exitfrom the PCA framework inFY2020-21 as it builds onthe gains made in FY2019-20 so that your Bank canoptimise stakeholder valueby undertaking the entiregamut of banking activi-ties," he said in the letter, asper the bank's annual report.

IDBI strives to come out ofRBI PCA framework: MD

PNS n NEW DELHI

Japanese auto majorHonda on Wednesdaylaunched the new ver-sion of its mid-sizedsedan City in Indiapriced between Rs10.9 lakh-Rs 14.65lakh (ex-showroom).

The fifth generation versionof the popular model, which inits current form is longer andwider than the fourth gener-ation City, comes with BS-VIcompliant petrol and dieselpowertrains.

The 1.5-litre petrol versionswith manual transmission arepriced at Rs 10.9 lakh, Rs 12.26lakh, and Rs 13.15 lakh, whilethe 1.5-litre diesel trims aretagged at Rs 12.40, Rs 13.76lakh, and Rs 14.65 lakh. The1.5-litre petrol automatic trimson the other hand are pricedat Rs 12.20 lakh, Rs 13.56 lakhand, Rs 14.45 lakh.

The model, which will com-pete with the likes of HyundaiVerna, Maruti Suzuki Ciazand Skoda Rapid, now features

smart devices ecosystemincluding Alexa remote capa-bility and 32 connected fea-tures as standard feature acrossall variants with a five-year freesubscription.

The company said it willalso continue to sell the BS-VIcompliant fourth generationCity along with the new ver-sion. "City is synonymouswith Honda brand in India. Itis the most important modelfor us," Honda Motor IndiaLtd (HCIL) President andCEO Gaku Nakanishi said.

Being a pillar of the compa-ny's business for the last 22years, the company expectsthe new City to bring in morevolumes as compared to thelast versions, he added.

PNS n NEW DELHI

Bangalore, July 15, 2020:HyperVerge announces theadoption of its AI assistedVideo-KYC system by thecountry's only listed pureplay credit card company -SBI Card. Customers canapply for an SBI Credit Cardfrom their homes using theirmobile phone or laptop andcomplete the KYC process viaan end to end encryptedsecure video call.

Earlier this year, RBI per-mitted regulated entities (RE)- banks, credit card compa-nies, NBFCs and wallets - touse Video-KYC as a replace-ment for in-person-verifica-tion. The per-KYC cost comesdown for the financial insti-tution, and the experience forthe customer is much betterthan earlier.

Further, the COVID-19 sit-uation has made social dis-tancing the norm. Customersare hesitant for both agentdriven in-person-verificationand branch-based verifica-tion. In this context, Video-KYC is now critical to contin-ue business momentum in a100% safe contact-less, pres-ence-less, paper-less way.

During the HyperVerge

Video KYC process, the SBICard agent captures the cus-tomer's location, asks for arandom verification code andtakes a picture of the cus-tomer's PAN and customer'sface. The process is so simplethat it can take as less as 2minutes and an agent cancomplete upto 200 videoKYCs.

HyperVerge AI, which isthe X-factor in HyperVergeVideo KYC solution, doesmany intelligent steps in real-time to assist the companyofficer performing the VideoKYC. It digitises the data onthe PAN card on the go andverifies it with PAN datafrom NSDL.

Then, it matches the face ofthe customer to the face onthe PAN Card and Aadhaarprovided by the customer tothe system.

NID studentscan apply forwork permits inGermany nowPNS n NEW DELHI

Students of NationalInstitutes of Design (NID)will be able to apply easily forwork permits in Germanynow as its centres have beenincluded in the Europeancountry's Anabin database,the commerce and industryministry said on Wednesday.

It said Germany hasopened a Central Office forForeign Education. As part oftheir service, they maintain adatabase called Anabin thatlists foreign degrees and high-er education qualifications inrelation to German diplomasand degrees.

Recognition of foreign uni-versity-level qualifications inGermany is often an essentialprerequisite for securing aGerman Work Visa, JobSeekers Visa or German BlueCard. It said often the successof visa application is depen-dent on the proof that theuniversity-level qualificationacquired outside Germany isconsidered on par withequivalent German qualifica-tion.

JLR unveils MY 21 RangeRover, Sport modelsPNS n MUMBAI

Tata Motors' luxury car sub-sidiary Jaguar Land Rover(JLR) on Wednesday said ithas unveiled its MY (ModelYear) 21 Range Rover andRange Rover Sport models,including cars with new mildhybrid electric vehicle engine.

The 2021 MY offering alsoincludes 50th-anniversary spe-cial editions and India-specif-ic cars. For India, MY 21Range Rover will be available

in standard wheel base (SWB),long wheel base (LWB) andspecial editions; and will beoffered with a choice of eithera 3-litre MHEV petrol or 3-litre new mild hybrid electricvehicle (MHEV) diesel engine,the company said in a release.

The MY 21 Range RoverSport will be available in sixderivatives and will be offeredwith 2-litre petrol and 5-litresupercharged petrol as well as3-litre diesel engine options, itsaid.

Last month, US Prez issued a proclamation to

block the entry of foreign workers for the rest of

the year on H-1B visas for skilled employees,

and L visas for managers and specialized

workers being transferred within a company

Honda drives in allnew City in Indiapriced at Rs 10.9 lakh

GoM recommends hike in sugar MSP to Rs 33 per kg

HyperVerge enters V-KYC with SBI Card as marquee customer

Follow us on

@TheDailyPioneer

facebook.com/dailypioneer

ThursdayJuly 16, 2020

ith uncertaintywreaking havocin the lives ofseveral peo-ple acrossthe globe,

medical and mone-tary needs havebecome tough tomeet. Severalorganisations, peo-ple, and volunteershave come forwardto commit them-selves to selfless ser-vice to whoever theycan be of any help.

One such group ofpeople happen to be musi-cians and singers who havecome together to hold onlineconcerts to raise awarenessabout organ donations. Ittakes lives to save lives, theysay. Timely help with organdonations can save millions oflives every year. Broughttogether on one platform byMOHAN Foundation (MultiOrgan Harvesting AidNetwork), talented and popu-lar singers and musicians willbe lending their handstowards the cause of creatingawareness and mobilising aidfor organ donation.

MOHAN works to create anecosystem to enable anincrease in organ donations.'Mission to Reach Millions,'their new initiative, aims tocreate awareness about theimportance of donatingorgans by reach millions ofpeople with the cause of organ

donation.

“Organ donation truly is acelebration of life — a celebra-tion for those who are wait-ing for a second chance atlife through transplan-tation but mostimportantly, a cele-bration of the spiritof giving. Our cam-paign is an initia-tive to celebratethis very spirit ofgiving,” says LalithaRaghuram, CountryDirector, MOHANFoundation.

They’ve alreadyhosted three onlineconcerts — ‘Singing forHope’ with S. Aishwaryaand S. Soundarya, ‘Singing forJoy’ with popular yesteryearplayback singer Usha Uthup,and ‘Baithak to Bollywood’ bythe faculty of ShankarMahadevan Academy (SMA)in the months of May andJune. Their next live concert‘Singing for Positivity’, will be

held on July 18 by AishwaryaSrinivas, where the songstresswill deliver a tribute to the

doyennes of Carnatic music— M.S.Subbulakshmi, DK

Pattammal, and MLVasanthakumari.

“The concerts aim tobring joy into people’slives in these difficultCOVID times whileencouraging them tothink about organdonation. This resonates

with our cause as everyorgan donation brings joy

into the lives of those await-ing life-saving transplants andtheir families. Organ Donorsand their families turn theirsorrow into someone’s joy and

their

despair into someone’s hopeby giving the greatest gift ofall — the gift of life,” LalithaRaghuram tells us.

Apart from online concerts,MOHAN Foundation is alsocrowdfunding using an online

campaign with Milaap.org toraise funds and awarenessregarding organ donation,where they have alreadymobilised Rs 7.8 lakh with thehelp of over 400 donors fromaround the world.

While MOHAN aims atraising awareness about organdonations, another group ofmusicians from the city cametogether to stand shoulder toshoulder with those who havebeen struggling to make endsmeet due to the COVID crisis.“Music doesn’t pay much, andconditions are worse for bud-ding musicians who lost outon gigs due to the lockdown.That’s when my friend-band-mate Pranati Khanna, and Idecided to help such artisteswho found it hard to pay fortheir essential needs, rent,bills, etc.,” informs Edward

Jonathan, guitarist with theHyderabad-based rock

band Spell Check.The duo sent out

messages to other musi-cians across the coun-try, their friends andfamily via social mediaplatforms likeInstagram and

Facebook, and ended uphelping musicians in not

just Hyderabad but alsoBangalore, Chennai, and

Kolkata.“We told people if they’re a

budding musician who needshelp, are living alone and haveno source of income or knowof anybody who is, they couldcontact us. We then put outinformation about these peo-ple and asked for donationsand raised funds. Each ofthem needed help for over themonths of May and June, ofover 6,000-8,000 rupees, tocover expenses. After a while,most beneficiaries found away to sustain themselvesafter June, as situations haveimproved since May,” explainsJonathan.

Music sure does more thanjust bring joy to the soul asthese musicians have provedto be able to go beyond touch-ing souls by touched lives too.

W

MUSICIANS TOUCHINGLIVES BEYOND SOUL

While we're at a stagein the history where

mankind has realisedit's only them that'sthere for each other,

we have people fromthe Music

community joininghands to promote

donations, raiseawareness on various

issues, and more. The

Pioneer's RACHELDAMMALA talks to

people from thecommunity to learn

more

Music doesn’t pay much, and conditions are worse forbudding musicians who lost out on gigs due to thelockdown. That’s when my friend-bandmate Pranati

Khanna, and I decided to help such artistes who found it hard to pay for their essential

needs, rent, bills, etc.,

EDWARD JONATHAN, GUITARIST

The Coronavirus is rapidlyspreading across the globe

and researchers and scientistsare looking for more and

more ways to fight thepandemic. Earlier vaccine for

COVID-19 seemed like theonly escape. Doctors have

now explored somethingcalled “plasma therapy” as a

preventive measure anddeemed it helpful. So COVID-

19 patients can now donatetheir plasma 14 days aftertheir recovery that has the

potential to save another life.Wondering what it is and how

it works? Here's Dr. BhaskarRao from the Telangana Super

Speciality Hospitals (TSHA)speaking to The Pioneer's

SHIKHA DUGGAL on variousquestions related to plasma

donation and its benefits

All you need to know about plasma therapyecovery in this ther-apy is more rapidthan any drug orventilator. I wouldrequest patientswho’ve conquered

COVID-19 to come forwardand donate their plasmas forthe needy. Since vital drugs likeRemidesivir and Tocilizumaren’t available in the market,this therapy, if given in time,brings effective results, informsDr Bhaskar Rao, TSHA.

SO WHAT IS PLASMA

THERAPY?

The therapy aims at usingantibodies from the blood of arecovered COVID-19 patient totreat those critically infected bythe virus. Plasma is a bloodcomponent that contains virus-fighting antibodies. It is likeblood donation but the sameplasma gets separated from theblood and the remaining bloodwill be transferred back to yourbody resulting in zero bloodloss. The procedure is com-pletely harmless and the donordoes not experience any pain. Anewly explored therapy will notcost you more than 20,000rs incomparison to COVID medi-cines that cost one approxi-mately Rs 2 lakh.

WHEN WAS PLASMA

THERAPY FIRST

INDUCED?

Dr Sarath Chandra Mouli,Rheumatologist from KIMSstates that this therapy has beenused since the 1800s. The firsttrial was done in 1892 for treat-ing Diphtheria. In the 1920s, it

was used to treat Scarlet fever.During the Spanish influenzapandemic of 1918, plasmadonation was used as a poten-tial therapy with mixed results.

WHAT IS THE IMPOR-

TANCE OF PLASMA

DONATION?

It contributes to saving thelives of those depending on life-saving therapies derived fromhuman plasma to treat thevirus. It’s a new and an experi-mental therapy but it’s provingto be a powerful weapon in pre-venting the virus’ attack. Whena patient recovers from thecoronavirus infection, antibod-ies help another patient fightthe Corona infection wheninfused into their body. Plasmacan be donated only by apatient who has recovered fromCOVID-19. For patients whoseswab test for COVID-19 is not

done, the history of at leastmild symptoms and a history ofcontact with swab positive casesis important. Before acceptinga person for plasma donation,the hospital checks the fitnessand suitability of every prospec-tive donor.

WHAT'S THE EFFECTIVE

RATE OF THIS THERAPY?

The efficiency of plasmatherapy is that the antibodiesfrom convalescent plasmamight suppress viremia.Patients treated with plasmahave a shorter hospital stay andlower mortality than those whowere not treated with convales-cent plasma. “As per IMCRguidelines, we have to use corticosteroids, anti-cytokine, and convalescentplasma to avoid later damagesto the body if any,” tells DrSarath of TSHA tells us.

WHAT ARE THE ADVAN-

TAGES OF CONVALES-

CENT PLASMA THERAPY?

Uses your own blood, workswith natural healing, and norequired downtime.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO

DONATE PLASMA?

People who have fully recov-ered from COVID-19 for atleast two weeks are encouragedto consider donating plasma.Individuals must have had aprior diagnosis of COVID-19documented by a laboratorytest and meet other donor crite-ria.

HOW CAN I DONATE

PLASMA?

Paramedics are sent home totest whether you are an eligibledonor or not. A technician willprepare your arm with antisep-tic, insert the needle, and beginthe donation process. Blood

will be drawn, the plasma willbe separated from your blood,and red blood cells will bereturned to your body througha process called plasmapheresis.Your first donation will takeapproximately 2 hours.

HOW TERRIBLE CAN THE

CORONAVIRUS GET?

Coronavirus cases in Indiaappear to be low now butIndia’s population densityincreases the risk of local trans-mission. Selective testing andreports of patients escapingmedical facilities are causes forconcern. The Telangana gov-ernment is taking appropriatesteps to encourage social dis-tancing by shutting downschools, theatres, and by pre-venting mass gatherings. TheGHMC recently distributedhome isolation kits to peoplewho are in the home-quaran-tine process. Nearly 180patients from KIMS hospital

have recovered from homequarantine. Individuals above60 years with comorbid condi-tions need to maintain extraprecaution.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN

PRECAUTIONS TO MAIN-

TAIN TO KEEP THE

VIRUS AT BAY?

Clean your hands often,maintain a safe distance, wear amask, don’t touch your face,and stay home if you feelunwell.

SHOULD YOU BUY A

COVID-9 HEALTH PLAN?

The rising cost ofCoronavirus treatment in pri-vate hospitals is becoming exor-bitant. IRDA released newguidelines that allow both lifeand health insurers to offershort-term special plans forCOVID-19 coverage. Thishealth plan is expected to pro-vide you with much-neededsupport. These policies addressthe high cost of PPEs becausePPE kits and other consum-ables are not covered undermost health insurance products.These are short-term plans withterms ranging from threemonths to 11 months whichwill not offer renewability.There are two types of COVID-19 special plans, one is basedon indemnity that pays theactual amount spent on the dis-ease and another is a benefit-based plan that will pay theentire lump sum amount on thediagnosis of COVID-19 andsubsequent requirement of hos-pitalisation.

R

DR BOLLINENI BHASKAR RAO(Managing Director of KIMS &

president of TSHA)DR SARATH CHANDRA MOULI,

Rheumatologist, KIMS

10

Hyderabad Thursday July 16 2020

FUN

Rules

ARCHIE

GARFIELD

SUDOKU

REALITY CHECK SPEED BUMP CROSSWORD

GINGER MEGGS

NANCY

CALVIN AND HOBBES

l Each row and column cancontain each number (1 to 9)exactly once.

l The sum of all numbers inany row or column mustequal 45.

Yesterday’s solution

ctress Raveena Tandonrecently did some workfrom home. She shot for anadvertisement at her resi-dence here.

The shoot happened withall the necessary precautions and mini-mum crew members. There were justtwo crew members present at herhouse amid theongoingCovidpan-

demic.“The working scenario has changed

but as we say, change is the only con-stant. With the new normal and limit-ed crew members, it took us lessertime to complete. Only two memberswere allowed in the house, one beingthe cameraman and the other was thesound recordist. They wore PPE kitsand all their equipment was disinfectedbefore they entered the house. I fol-lowed the social distancing norm withthe crew members and I feel after thisshoot, I am ready for the new normal,”

Raveena shared her experience ofshooting post lockdown.

On the big screen, Raveena willbe soon seen in KGF: Chapter 2.The movie is a follow-up of theKannada blockbuster KGF:Chapter 1, starring Kannadasuperstar Yash.

Raveena shoots at home

amid Covid-19 pandemic

A ctor Sonu Soodis now all set tocome up with abook recountinghis experience ofhelping migrant

workers reach their home-towns during the Covidlockdown.

“The past three and ahalf months have been akind of a life-changingexperience for me, livingwith the migrants for 16 to18 hours a day and sharingtheir pain. When I go to seethem off as they begin their

journey back home, myheart is filled with joy andrelief. Seeing the smiles ontheir faces, the tears of hap-piness in their eyes hasbeen the most special expe-rience of my life, and Ipledged that I’ll keep onworking to send them backto their homes until the lastmigrant reaches his village,to his loved ones,” Sonudeclared.

“I believe I came to thiscity for this — it was mypurpose. I want to thankgod for making me a cata-

lyst in helping the migrants.While my heart beats inMumbai, after this move-ment I feel a part of melives in the villages of UP,Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam,Uttarakhand and variousother states, where I havenow found new friends andmade deep connections. Ihave decided to put theseexperiences, stories that areembedded in my soul for-ever, in a book,” her said,about the book that is to bepublished by PenguinRandom House India.

SONU SOOD TO WRITE BOOKON EXPERIENCE OF HELPING

MIGRANT WORKERS

what’s brewing?

A

‘Hanna' creator David Farr: Womenbring difference to politics of the set

ritish writer-pro-ducer David Farr isnarrating the storyof Hanna through afemale gaze, andsays women leading

the show behind the cameranot just influences the narra-tive, but bring a big differenceto the politics of the set aswell.

The web series Hanna spinsa new world from the story ofJoe Wright’s acclaimed 2011film of the same name. Farr,who co-wrote the original fea-ture film, is driving the narra-tive of the show.

“Although the film wasabout Hanna, and she was thecentral character, that (maleperspective) was still a verystrong thing. It does feel like amale view, and the film wasdirected by a man,” Farr toldIANS when asked aboutembracing the female grace.

He continued, “We havemade a big choice all throughthe seasons to have femaledirectors for large numbers ofthe episodes. It’s definitelymore than half and I think itmakes a big difference. Itmakes a big difference to thepolitics of the set. And it wasthe single easiest and clearestdecision we made. We didn’tchoose people just because

they were women but we madea conscious choice that theyare really good, amazing tal-ents. It does bring a differenteye and a different voice. It justbecomes a creative thing andfun. It’s not that you don’t haveto be earnest about it, it’s justthat you release different voic-es. And that’s my simple thingthat you just got to releasevoices of diverse kinds at ahigh-level. Because if you dothat, everything changes. AndI think we are a part of thatprocess, which I’m proud of.”

Farr, also known for addinghis creative vision to seriesThe Night Manager, noted thatworking with talented womenhas been an eye-opening andlearning experience for him.

“In the first season (ofHanna), I wrote almost everyepisode myself except one. Inthe second season, I gave overhalf the episodes to four otherwriters and three of them werewomen. And they sketchedout the story about Hanna,and this extraordinary groupof young women that shemeets who are all destined tobecome assassins. What theybrought was such a kind ofmore personal take on, youknow, what it is to be a womanin the world,” said the writer.

“I can’t feel that. I’ve got two

daughters, who are now 20and 18. So I guess I’ve experi-enced that secondhandthrough that. But they felt it ina visceral sense. The waychoices are somehow made foryou, the way conversations aresomehow taken over by menput bluntly, or power struc-

tures. And so that was some-thing that they brought to it ina way that was very specific.And I felt I learned a greatdeal from them as writers. So,they’re bringing a lot to thetable and I felt there was a lotto learn from them.”

With a cast led by Esme,

Mireille Enos, and JoelKinnaman, the first season ofAmazon Prime Video showHanna narrated the story of ayoung girl named Hanna, whohas lived in a forest and hasgained extraordinary physicalabilities. It is about her experi-ence with modern reality. Itexplored the dynamics of afather-daughter bond, emo-tional issues of a family whilehighlighting the dilemma ofhow teenagers grow in themodern world and do theyever fit in. The eight-episodesecond season follows thejourney of Hanna as sheevades the pursuit of a “sinis-ter government agency”, andembarks on a journey of self-discovery.

Reflecting back on thethought behind creating theshow, Farr said: “The reason Ifirst came up with Hanna ideawas I had two daughters, whowere very young when I waswriting the film. And all theywere allowed to watch wasMary Poppins and Sound ofMusic. And meanwhile, ifyou’re a boy, you seem to beable to watch westerns andyou could watch gangsters.You could see boys doingeverything. And you could seeit didn’t seem it was availableto young women.

B

ilmmaker SSRajamouli onTuesday appealedto the curedCOVID-19patients to step

forward and donate theirplasma to treat those infectedwith the coronavirus.

“If you have recoveredfrom #COVID_19, come for-ward to help someone inneed! There is no shame ingetting #COVID. Please don'tlet social stigma prevent youfrom saving lives! You canregister as a donor here:http://givered.in ((sic),” theBaahubali filmmaker tweetedalong with a link.

Plasma therapy is consid-ered effective for peoplestruggling to cope with coro-navirus. It involves injectionof blood-component plasmaextracted from a curedpatient to a positive coron-avirus case. The plasmaextracted from a curedpatient is considered to behaving virus fighting anti-bodies. It strengthens theimmunity of the person get-ting the plasma.

Likewise, Rajamouli’s col-league Koratala Siva hasrequested coronavirus positivepatients to be responsible incautioning their closed ones.“It’s my earnest request to all

those infected, let’s actresponsible and informour close ones and allthose who’ve metrecently so they canget tested too. Needof the hour. Time tobe more civilised.More than thevirus, it’s the factthat a few infectedindividuals arekeeping it a secretthat makes thisan even morescarier experi-ence (sic),” thedirector postedin a series oftweets.

11

F

Hyderabad Thursday July 16 2020tollywood

he Pioneer hasalreadyinformed you(May 26) thatproducer DilRaju, who dis-

tributed HIT in Telugu,was planning to remake itin Hindi. The project wasmade official onWednesday, with versatileHindi actor RajkummarRao attached to star andoriginal director Dr SaileshKolanu sitting in the direc-tor’s saddle. Raju will beproducing it along withKuldeep Rathore. It willflag-off next year.

Excited to have joinedthe project, RajkummarRao said, “When I sawHIT, I instantly connectedto it. It’s an engaging story,relevant in today’s environ-ment. As an actor I amalways on the lookout toplay characters I haven’texplored and role in HITgives me a chance to do that.I’m looking forward to taking

this journey with Sailesh andMr Dil Raju.”

Speaking to The Pioneer

exclusively, Sailesh saidRajkummar Rao was a unan-imous choice for the leadrole. “After I was signed onfor the remake, Raju sir and Iwere discussing who wouldbe the best bet to spearheadit. One of the first names thatcame for discussion was Raobecause of his previous richbody of work. Raju sir laterasked Rao to watch the film,which he did. The actor rangme subsequently and therewere questions about per-ceptions and what he likedthe most. He also learnedhow I would be taking it for-ward as a franchise,” thedirector said.

He noted that he is glad tohave an actor of Rajkummar’spedigree on board. “I reallylove his acting and I’ve beenfollowing his work since

Shaitan. As a storyteller Icouldn’t have asked for a bet-ter actor than him. Thebiggest greed for any story-teller is not money but get-ting to work with amazingactors and seeing their workreach a large number of peo-ple. That is precisely why Isigned up for the remake,” he stated.

The remake will tell thestory of a cop who — whilebattling with his own trau-matic past — is to solve amissing case. According toSailesh, the Hindi script workhas commenced. “As we willbe reaching a wider audiencewith the remake, I’m tweak-ing the script here and there.I will write the preliminaryversion and then take it to adialogue writer. I haven’tdecided on where to set the

story because of the existingconditions due to COVID-19outbreak. I have time becauseI first need to wrap up HIT 2in Telugu before I embark onremaking HIT in Hindi. Iwill travel to north India nextyear and decide on the set-ting,” he pointed out andsmilingly added that as hehas roamed across the streetsof Ameerpet, SR Nagar andOld City during college,Hindi isn’t much of a prob-lem.

HIT was produced by Naniand Prashanti Tipirneni inTelugu. Talking about Nani’sreaction to the remake,Sailesh shared, “He alwayswanted good things to hap-pen to me. The film is hisproduct at the end of the dayand he is proud of itgoing to Hindi.”

Nani is proudof HIT goingto B'wood:Director Sailesh

T

As a storyteller I couldn't have asked fora better actor than Rajkummar Rao tospearhead this film, the director tellsNAGARAJ GOUD

rominent Tamilactor SarathKumar is the latestbig name fromSouth to havetaken the OTT

plunge. On his birthdayTuesday, his wifeRadikaa Sarath Kumartook to Twitter toannounce his digitaldebut. He will featurein the upcoming screenadaptation of ArchanaSarat’s novel Birds ofPrey — The HuntBegins. “Sarath Kumarsir was not only kind

and humble enough tolaunch the book of adebut author but he hasalso taken it to thescreen,” Archana post-ed following theannouncement. Whilewe still don’t whether itis being made as aseries or a film, we didlearn from multiplesources that Telugustreamer aha will beproducing it and it willbe shot in Telugu.Goutham VasudevMenon’s former associ-ate Pradeep Nayyar will

direct it. The projectwill be a psychologicalcrime thriller that dealswith the theme of childabuse and how itaffects the children,with Sarath playing apowerful role.

Sarath, who is a bigname in Tamil, alsoacted a good numberof films in Telugu.Prominent of whichinclude Bunny, JayaJanaki Nayaka and NaaPeru Surya-Naa IlluIndia.

— NG

Sarath Kumar to makehis OTT debut for aha

P

OTT have starteda healthy trend interms of contentand cinema:NITHYA MENON

outh-HindiactressNithyaMenen, whomade herdigital debut

with the web seriesBreathe: Into TheShadows, believesthat OTT plat-forms will notreplace theatricalexperience.

“I don’t thinkanything canreplace the wholeexperience ofgoing to a theatreand seeing a movieon a big

screen. That is adifferent experi-ence. But the OTTplatforms that areopening up nowhave started ahealthy trend interms of contentand cinema.”

“Sometimes,there is a certainstagnancy, every-body walks on thesame path, and alot of thingsbecome cliches.OTT is opening upnew opportunitiesfor everybody. As

an actor, I amvery

hope-ful.

(It is a medium)Even for writersand directors whowant to explorediverse content.”

She feels thateveryone shouldmake niche con-tent so that there issomething foreverybody towatch.

“There should besomething foreveryone, so that iswhat OTT is doing.I feel that’s a veryhealthy environ-ment,” she said.

She has a hugeplan that involveswriting a script,too. “I had alwayswanted to sit andwrite a script.Otherwise I don’tget the energy todo it. I gave it astart, but I didn’tput any deadline,so it was like if Ifelt like writing,I would write,if I didn’t, Iwouldn’t. Ididn’t finishthe wholething. I thinkI have a fewmore

months,” shesaid.

S

COVID-19 relatedappeals by Rajamouliand Koratala Siva

roduction houseUV Creations,which strikes afine balancebetween big andsmall-budgeted

cinema, has roped inSantosh Sobhan andSanjay Rao, Brahmaji’sson, for a new film. Theirin-house directorMerlapaka Gandhi haspenned the film’s script,while one of his long-timeassociates will be makinghis directorial debut withit. With the film being anadult comedy, we hear UVwill cease from taking theproduction credits. It isbelieved they’ve alreadybooked a beach-sideresort in the outskirts ofVisakhapatnam to shoot it.Being made as a web film,it will most likely drop onaha, as UV and GeethaArts have collaborated formultiple production ven-tures in the past.

P

SANTOSH SOBHAN

AND SANJAY RAO

IN MERLAPAKA

GANDHI'S STORY

AFP n LONDON

Frank Lampard admittedChelsea are struggling withnerves as they chase a place

in the Champions League nextseason after Olivier Giroudscored the only goal in a 1-0 winover already relegated Norwichat Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

Victory opens up a four-point lead for third-placedChelsea over Leicester andManchester United, who bothhave a game in hand later thisweek.

But Lampard knows there isstill plenty of work to do with atrip to champions Liverpooland sixth-placed Wolves visitingStamford Bridge on the last dayof the season to come in Chelsea’sfinal two league games of the sea-

son.“I want more but that can

wait. Where we are at as a teamand our position in the table,three points is everything,” saidLampard.

“If we want to really moveon then it can be better. It’s not

easy, there is a nervy feeling therefor understandable reasons.”

Lampard made five changesfrom the battering at BramallLane with Giroud among thoserestored to the starting line-up.

Chelsea have already signif-icantly bolstered their frontline

for next season with the signingsof Timo Werner and HakimZiyech.

But Giroud has more thanjustified the decision to alsoextend his contract by a year dur-ing football’s shutdown asChelsea’s most potent strikersince the restart.

“He’s a big character for usand scoring important goals,”added Lampard.

Giroud saw a number ofchances come and go in the firsthalf as an attempted lob over TimKrul fell gently into the Dutch‘keeper’s arms before he slicedwell over the bar whenunmarked inside the area.

Christian Pulisic forced Krulinto his best save of the first-halfwith a powerful drive that wasjust too close to the formerNewcastle stopper.

Just as Norwich looked setto hold out until the breakGiroud shrugged off TimmKlose to connect with Pulisic’scross for his fifth goal in eightgames. “I missed some I don’tmiss usually,” said Giroud. “I losta bit of confidence but my desireto score was bigger, so I just tried

to stay focused and on the crossof Christian I anticipated thisheader.” Norwich’s long-awaitedfate of a return to the

Championship was confirmed ina 4-0 thrashing at the hands ofWest Ham on Saturday.

12HYDERABAD | THURSDAY | JULY 16, 2020

AP n MADRID

The Spanish league trophywill be sitting by the field at

the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadiumon Thursday, with Real Madrida win away from lifting it for thefirst time in three years.

Madrid will have its firstchance to clinch the title whenit hosts Villarreal at home fol-lowing a long season that was injeopardy because of the coron-avirus pandemic.

It enters the sec-ond-to-last round witha four-point lead overBarcelona, which facesOsasuna at the CampNou at the same time.

Madrid needs twopoints from its last twomatches to secure its34th league title — and firstsince 2017. It can also lift thetrophy with a loss if Barcelonafails to defeat Osasuna.

It would be Madrid’s firstleague title since CristianoRonaldo left to join Juventustwo seasons ago, and the firstsince coach Zinedine Zidanereturned from a short break.

Barcelona won the last twoleague titles and was at the topthis season when the coron-avirus pandemic struck, but

Madrid has been perfect sincethe break, winning nine straight.

“When we returned fromthe confinement after beingstuck at home for almost threemonths, I could see that theplayers wanted to achieve some-thing big,” Zidane said onWednesday.

“I could see it during thetraining sessions, I could see itin how they were practising.”

Madrid had lost three of itslast four matchesbefore the league washalted in March.

Barcelona seemedin control but enduredan up-and-down runafter the break, draw-ing three matches andlosing its advantage atthe top.

Coach Quique Setién,under pressure because of theteam’s results and lacklusterperformances, knows his clubfaces a tough task trying to over-come Madrid’s advantage.

Barcelona has won eight ofthe last 11 league titles, withMadrid lifting the trophy in2017 and 2012.

Madrid will face a Villarrealteam that is sitting fifth in thestandings and fighting for aEuropa League berth.

NEW DELHI: The Indian cricketteam’s six-match limited-overshome series against England sched-uled in September is all set to bepostponed along with NewZealand A’s visit of the country nextmonth due to the Covid-19 pan-demic.

The BCCI is yet to make anyformal announcement in thisregard but it is expected that it willhappen soon.

“England were supposed toplay six games (three ODIs andthree T20Is) during late September.Obviously in the current circum-stances England won’t be travellingto India,” a senior BCCI officialsaid.

India’s Future Tours andProgram (FTP) calendar will beamong the main topics of discus-sion during the BCCI ApexCouncil meeting on Friday.

“But I guess a formalannouncement will happen oncethe FTP issue is discussed as it’s partof the agenda during Friday’s ApexCouncil meeting. New Zealand Ahad a tour of India scheduled inAugust and even that’s also unlike-ly to go ahead,” the official said.

According to reports in theBritish media, the white ball tourmay now happen in September,next year. PTI

MELBOURNE: The 10th season of theBig Bash League (BBL) will coin-cide with the much-anticipatedIndia’s tour of Australia, the hostboard announced on Wednesdayunveiling a 61-match schedule forthe country’s premier T20 event.

According to the schedulereleased by Cricket Australia (CA),the BBL will begin on December 3with a clash between Strikers andRenegades at the Adelaide Oval,shortly after the end of day one ofthe opening Test between India andAustralia in Brisbane. The final has

been set for February 6 next year.The 59-game Women’s BBL

will be played from October 17

until November 29.“While the Covid-19 pandem-

ic may yet force alterations to thesummer of cricket, today’s

announcement confirms thecommitment to a full 61-game schedule, including thereturn of the five-team finalsformat,” the CA said.

As per the schedule, theBBL will run for eight nights beforetaking a five-day break forAustralia’s day-night Test withIndia to be held from Dec 11-15 atAdeialde Oval. PTI

PTI n NEW DELHI

The national camps for Indianmen’s and women’s hockey

teams will not resume as plannedon July 19 at Bengaluru SAI Centrewith the rising Covid-19 case countforcing the city into a completeseven-day lockdown.

The grave situation in thesouthern metropolis has left theSports Authority of India (SAI) withno choice but to defer its plans.

Enjoying a break at theirrespective native places after beingconfined to their rooms at the SAICentre for two months due to thenationwide lockdown, the players

had been expected to return to baseby July 19.

A SAI source in Bengaluru,however, confirmed to PTI thatthere is no way the national campscan resume on the earlier ear-marked date under the current cir-cumstances.

“We didn’t get any such instruc-tion till now about resumption ofhockey camps. On June 18, we werejust being asked to allow the play-ers to leave for their homes but nointimation has been given to us onresumption of camps,” the sourcesaid.

“Frankly speaking, it is impos-sible to resume camps now because

Bengaluru is under complete lock-down till July 22. The cases areincreasing everyday and there is apossibility that the lockdown wouldbe extended till the end of thismonth.”

Although the SAI headquartershere is yet to take a formal decisionon the matter, Hockey India’s de-recognition by the Sports Ministry,along with 53 other National SportsFederations (NSFs), as per theDelhi High Court’s order, has madethe situation complex.

“We can’t make any commenton national camps or anything aswe are de-recognised by the min-istry now,” a HI official said.

BENFICA KKEEP SSLIM TTITLE HHOPES AALIVE Lisbon: Benfica kept their slim hopes of winning thePortuguese title alive as a first-half goal from midfielderChiquinho and a late second from Haris Seferovic gavethem a hard-fought 2-0 home win over Vitoria deGuimaraes. The victory leaves Benfica on 71 points after32 games, five behind leaders Porto. Having beatenBenfica twice this season, Porto will secure 29th leaguetitle if they can manage at least a draw with Sporting.

MORTAZA RRECOVERS FFROM CCOVID-119 Dhaka: Former Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortazahas recovered from Covid-19 after treatment at home forthe dreaded virus since June 20. Mortaza announced thenegative result of his test on his Facebook page. His wifeSumona Haque is yet to recover from the disease. Twoother players — Nafees Iqbal and Nazmul Islam — havealso recovered after undergoing treatment at home.

TAMIM, MMAHMUDULLAH TTURN DDOWN CCPL OOFFERS Dhaka: Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal and T20Iskipper Mahmudullah Riyad on Wednesday confirmedthey have opted against taking part in this year's CPL.Citing concerns related to coronavirus pandemic,Mahmudullah turned down the offer to feature in theleague. While Tamim declined the offer to remain availablefor Dhaka Premier League, in case it resumes in August.

AKINFENWA IINVITED TTO LLIVERPOOL TTITLE PPARADE Liverpool: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp said he hasinvited Adebayo Akinfenwa to their Premier League titleparade shortly after sending the forward a congratulatorymessage for sealing promotion to the Championship. AfterWanderers beat Oxford United in the League One playofffinal to secure their place in the English second-tier for thefirst time, Akinfenwa had joked that Klopp could “hit me upon WhatsApp”. The German manager had responded witha video message and said that Akinfenwa would also bepart of their title celebration when it happens.

DAKAR YYOUTH OOLYMPICS PPOSTPONED TTO 22026 Lausanne: The International Olympic Committee haspostponed the 2022 Dakar Youth Olympics for four yearsdue to the coronavirus pandemic. IOC President ThomasBach said the delay was discussed two days ago in atelephone conversation with Senegal President MackySall. The Youth Summer Games would be the firstOlympics organized in Africa.

6 PPEOPLE RRETURNED CCOVID-119 PPOSITIVE: CCSAJohannesburg: Cricket South Africa (CSA) onWednesday said six people have returned positive for thedreaded coronavirus but none of them are cricketersfollowing approximately 50 tests conducted ahead of the3TeamCricket match on Saturday. CSA however did notreveal who were the six positive people from among thosetested for the dreaded disease.

PCB LLOOK TTO SSTART DDOMESTIC SSEASON IIN OOCTKarachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board is planning to startits delayed domestic cricket season from early October atselect venues across the country. "The idea is to have areduced domestic season at less venues to limit the traveland moving about off players, coaches and officials," asource said. He said a final decision on the domesticcricket schedule would be taken in early September sothere is time for preparations.

HUMPY, HHARIKA AADVANCE TTO LLAST EEIGHTChennai: India's Koneru Humpy and D Harika advancedto the quarterfinals of the fourth and final leg of WomenSpeed Chess Championships on Wednesday. Agencies

SINGLES

AP n MANCHESTER

Fresh from becoming a fatherof two, Joe Root will be

reinstalled as England captainon Thursday with his team invery familiar territory.

With Root absent so hecould be with his wife for thebirth of their second child,England lost the first Testagainst the West Indies lastweek in what was the firstinternational cricket matchsince the sport’s shutdown.

With the series against theWest Indies being only threeTests, England has to bounceback immediately and Root’sreturn is clearly a positive.

The captain will take theplace of Joe Denly, who made 18and 29 in his two innings at theRose Bowl and was fighting

with Zak Crawley to keep hisspot for the second Test at OldTrafford.

Crawley had England’shighest single score with 76 inthe second innings.

There is likely to be achange in the bowling attack,too, with Stuart Broadpushing for a recall afterbeing dropped for thefirst Test — and thenspeaking publiclyabout his disappoint-ment during thematch.

Root said anydecision would betaken after he took alook at the Old Traffordpitch again laterWednesday.

There has been rainin Manchester and Root

described the wicket as havinga “nice brownish colour.”

Continuity has been key forEngland when it comes toselection in recent years, whichmay prove a blessing for Jos

Buttler. The wicketkeeper-batsman — a limited-overs specialist — has aTest average of 23.22since the start of 2019,and only one centuryin 75 innings, but is setto keep his place.

The West Indiesare holders of theWisden Trophy afterbeating England in a

home series last year,

so will retain it with a draw inthe first of back-to-back Tests inManchester.

And they are looking to seala first Test series victory inEngland in 32 years. Not since1992-93 — when the likes ofBrian Lara, Courtney Walsh andCurtly Ambrose were in theirpomp — have the Windies wonan overseas Test series consist-ing of more than two matchesagainst major opposition.

“I haven’t mentioned any-thing about history to the guys,”West Indies captain JasonHolder said.

“It’s hard for us to get caughtup in the peripheral stuff.

“Winning the first Testmatch is just one piece of thepuzzle. We’ve got two othergames to play and we don’t getahead of ourselves.”

MANCHESTER: Windies coach PhilSimmons believes that the extendedpreparations after early arrival due toCovid-19 protocols have actually playeda key part in his side’s four-wicket winin the first Test. West Indies, whoarrived in England on June 9 andtrained in a bio-secure environmentafter that, beat the home side by fourwickets on the final day of the first Test.

“I think that has been the biggestinfluence on the performance. The factthat we’ve been here for that period oftime, we’ve had quality bowling in thenets because we’ve had nearly 11 seam-ers here, you can’t put a price on that,”he said on the eve of the second Test.

“I don’t like to go back into my(playing) days, but we would come toEngland and play something like threeor four proper warm-up games beforethe first Test, and we would also have

three-day or four-day games in betweenthe Test matches. So I think that peri-od of training goes a long way to howwe performed in that first Test.”

While praising the resolve of hisplayers in the first Test, he warned theWest Indies cricketers to guard againstcomplacency.

“For me it was a great win becauseI think that it signified a lot of hard workbeing done by the players over the lastfour or five weeks. It was a top-class Testmatch, with good cricket played by bothteams, and even coming down to thelast hour, it could have gone either way.

“But you guard against complacen-cy by just trying to do the same thingsyou did before the first Test. Right nowthat Test match is history. We’ve got tobe thinking about what we do fromThursday to Monday,” the 57-year-oldformer all-rounder said. PTI

England vvss WindiesLive from 3:30pm IST

SONY SIX NETWORK

ADVANTAGE

CHELSEAGiroud helps

Frank's side edgeout Norwich &inch closer totop-four finish

Chelsea's Olivier Giroud celebrates after scoring goal Chelsea/Twitter

LONDON: Premier League clubshave agreed a 10-week sum-mer transfer window, whichwill open on July 27.

Subject to the approval offootball’s world governingbody FIFA, the window willopen the day after the 2019/20league season finishes andend on October 5, the dateUEFA had recommended forthe closure of registration peri-ods across Europe.

The Premier League saidthat following consultationwith the English Football

League, a domestic-only win-dow will also be added fromOctober 5 and close onOctober 16.

Transfers between PremierLeague clubs will not be ableto occur during this period,but top-flight sides can tradewith EFL clubs and loan orsign players permanently.

The EFL confirmed itswindow would open on thesame day as the PremierLeague’s but clubs would havean extra two weeks for domes-tic-only business. AFP

PL transfer windowto run for 10 weeks

5 subs rule extended by 1 yearZURICH: An interim rule allow-ing football teams to use fivesubstitutes per match duringthe schedule congestioncaused by the coronaviruspandemic was extended onWednesday through next sea-son.

Football’s law-makingpanel, said the option of usingtwo extra replacements wouldcontinue in the 2020-21 seasonand for national team compe-titions into next August, whenthe Tokyo Olympic tourna-ments end. AP

“The game was OK butresults are critical. We couldhave won by more, wecould have been a bit betterwith our quality”

— FRANK LAMPARD

India's homeseries vs Eng setto be postponed

No July 19 resumption of hockey campsas Bengaluru goes into lockdown

Big Bash to start amid India tour

Root returns for Old Trafford Test Extended preparations playedkey part in win: Simmons

Madrid get chanceto clinch league title

Duleshwar Tandi aka Rapper Dule Rocker is making waveson social media with searing lockdown raps. The lyrics

talk about the plight of migrant workers during Covid-19crisis. The 27-year-old is a Dalit migrant worker fromOdisha's Kalahandi district. He became a rapper to narratethe ordeal of migrants walking home during the lockdown.With no musical instrument, no background score or anydecorated stage behind him, Duleshwar sings in his muddyhut and records it on his mobile phone.His rap songs are creating a hugeimpact. The lines depict the bittertruth of lockdown times. Duleshwarhad shifted to Raipur in 2013 as amigrant worker after completing hisBSc degree (Chemistry) from agovernment college in Kalahandi. Healso worked as a waiter in RaipurHotel. On some occasions, he washedplates and cleaned tables. Duleshwar returned to his village,Borda, on March 23, one day before the national lockdownThe next day, Odisha government announced lockdownacross 70 per cent of the state. "As I saw news reports ofthe novel coronavirus cases growing in China, US andEuropean countries, I sensed, situation may get worse here.After the state government announced the lockdown inmajor districts, I made up my mind and decided to comeback," he told India Today over phone.

Photographer savesman presumed dead

Andean condor can fly for100 miles without flappingA

study sheds light on just how efficiently the world's largestsoaring bird rides air currents to stay aloft for hours without

flapping its wings. The Andean condor has a 3-metre (10ft)wingspan and weighs up to 15kg (33lbs), making it the world'sheaviest soaring bird. For the first time, a team of scientistsstrapped recording equipment they called "daily diaries" to eightcondors in Patagonia torecord each wingbeatover more than 250hours of flight time.Incredibly, the birds spentjust 1% of their time aloftflapping their wings,mostly during takeoff.One bird flew more thanfive hours, covering morethan 100 miles (160km),without flapping its wings."Condors are expert pilots but we just had not expected theywould be quite so expert," said Prof Emily Shepard, a study co-author and biologist at Swansea University in Wales. "The findingthat they basically almost never beat their wings and just soar ismind-blowing," said David Lentink, an expert in bird flight atStanford University, who was not involved in the research. Tobirds, the sky is not empty but a landscape of invisible features:wind gusts, currents of warm rising air and streams of air pushedupward by ground features such as mountains.

In a bizarre incident, a Kerala photographer ended up saving aman's life who was presumed to be dead, when he went to

click the pictures of the corpse's body. The incident happenedon Sunday when Tomy Thomas, an Ernakulam-basedphotographer, was called by cops to click images of adeceased person as part of preparing the inquest report. AlsoRead - Kashmir Photographer Masrat Zahra Wins IWMF's'Courage In Photojournalism Award'. However, somethingstrange happened when Tomy was about to take photographs.He heard a low sound emanating from the body and realisedthat he is not dead after all. Shocked and startled, he instantlyinformed the police who inspected the body. "Since the light inthe room was not adequate to click photos, I leaned over theman to turn on the light switch which was on thewall right next to where he was lying. It was thenthat I heard a feeble voice," Tomy said. "A shiverran down my spine as it hit me that the manwas actually alive," he added. Once the copsfound that the man is alive andbreathing, he was sent to the intensivecare unit of a hospital where he iscurrently receiving treatment.Notably, the man named Sivadasanhad hit his head and fallen to thefloor, following which onlookersfound him in an unconscious stateand thought that he is dead.

Railways creates post-Covid coach

Odisha migrant workerturns rapper

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he railways is preparing to provide better hygiene and sanitationstandards in train coaches as it plans to install foot-operated

soap dispensers, copper-coated handrails, fixtures with titaniumdioxide (TiO2) coating that kills viruses and plasma air equipmentinside air conditioning (AC) ducts to steralise and make theinteriors particulate matter-resistant. The national carrier'sproduction unit, RailCoach Factory inKapurthala, has builtthe first prototype. Therailways plans toretrofit all its existingcoaches with theseamenities, officialsaware of the mattersaid. "Post Covid Coach will have hands-free amenities like footoperated water tap and soap dispenser, foot operated lavatory door(outside), foot operated flush valve, foot operated latches inlavatory door, outside washbasin with foot operated water tap and

soap dispenser and forearm operated handle on compartmentdoors," the railway ministry said in its design note for thecoaches. The first two coaches built at the unit have fixturescoated with TiO2 and the provision for plasma air equipmentin AC ducts to sterilise interiors using ionised air. "Thisplasma air equipment will sterilize the air and surfaces insidethe AC coach using ionised air to make the coach Covid-19

and particulate matter resistant.

AFP n BERGAMO

Mario Pasalic scored a hat-trick as Atalanta brushed

aside struggling local rivalsBrescia 6-2 to move second inSerie A on Tuesday.

Gian Piero Gasperini’sside extended their unbeatenleague run to 13 games tomove six points behind lead-ers Juventus who visit eighth-placed Sassuolo onWednesday.

Inter Milan and Lazio aretwo points behind Atalantabefore they play against SPAL

and Udinese respectively laterthis week.

Gasperini’s side havescored 93 league goals so farthis season — 26 more thaneight-time reigning champi-ons Juventus.

“We don’t do it to humil-iate the opponent, but we tryto play our game,” saidGasperini.

“Already last year we were the best attack in theleague, this year we have sur-passed ourselves, scoringmany goals with many differ-ent players.

Atalanta's Mario Pasalic celebrates after scoring a goal against Brescia AP

Great entertainersPasalic nets hat-trick as free-scoringAtalanta thump Brescia to go second